


I'll See You on the Other Side

by whatlighttasteslike (waitingforeleven)



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arguments, Bus Kids - Freeform, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Flashbacks, Framework AU, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Investigations, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, POV Jemma Simmons, POV Skye | Daisy Johnson, Pining, Recovery, Reunions, Surprises, Undercover, fake death, post 4x15
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-04 15:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 36,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10281686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waitingforeleven/pseuds/whatlighttasteslike
Summary: When Fitz is the only one still stuck in the Framework, Jemma and Daisy hack their way in to save him, but the world is much more complicated than they anticipated. With only three days to convince him the world isn't real, Daisy leads Framework Fitz through a mysterious investigation, while Jemma must learn the story of a very different FitzSimmons, a story that will solidify how they are truly meant to be together - ineveryuniverse.A FitzSimmons Framework AU





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A quick note for clarification - This fic will focus solely on Fitz, Jemma, and Daisy – mainly for my own sanity. (And I could not bring myself to write a story where Mack was forced to leave his daughter because NOPE). This Framework is heavily inspired by what we saw at the end of 4x15, but I’ve set aside May, Coulson, Mack, and Mace's framework characters just to keep things simple. They exist in the Framework, but they do not interact with our trio because SHIELD does not exist, so they’ve never met. Other than that, everything should be easy to follow, but if you have any questions, please leave a comment or send me an ask on tumblr.
> 
> I'm so thrilled to finally release this to the world, so enjoy!

_He’s out there. Somewhere. He has to be._

 

Jemma clutched her hands together around her middle to fight the nauseous feeling in her stomach as she sat strapped to her seat on the Zephyr. Her team around her sat quietly, still processing the last few minutes where they narrowly managed to rescue their missing agents from AIDA’s clutches. But they didn’t rescue their entire team. The one person she cared about most was still out there, _God knows_ _where_ , and they didn’t have a clue where to start searching for him.

 

_I’m securing our future. So we can get married, grow old together._

_Jemma, stop. Look at me. It’s me. It’s me._

 

The memory of those words sent a shiver down her spine as she pulled at her sleeve to wipe at the dried blood collecting around her thumbnail. It wasn’t real blood, she knew, but the remnants of that moment, of plunging that knife into his, _its_ , neck, were causing her head to spin. It was a memory she wouldn’t see fading anytime soon.

 

_It wasn’t him. But now he’s out there. Alone._

 

A sudden pressure on her shoulder caused her to jump in her seat, but she let out a breath when she realized it was just Daisy curling a hand around her shoulder.

“Fitz is out there,” Daisy whispered soothingly. “We know he is.”

“But we have no idea where he’s located, or if he’s even _alive_ ,” Jemma choked out, her voice breaking at her last word.

Daisy kneeled down in front of her friend and held onto her wrists. “Jemma, he was switched out with an LMD only recently. AIDA knows that he created her, so that’s probably why she kept him separate from the rest of the team. She wouldn’t kill him, okay?”

“You don’t know that,” Jemma said, shaking her head as new tears trailed down her face. It was almost too much, the thought that the last word he said to her was _be careful_ , but he couldn’t keep the promise himself. She didn’t want to think about the moment AIDA found him, alone in the control room without backup. He probably pleaded with her, _begged_ her desperately to not switch him out. But that wasn’t in her programming.

Daisy squeezed Jemma’s wrist. “We have to believe that. It’s the only way we’re going to be able to focus on finding him.”

As her lip quivered, Jemma wracked her brain for a last bit of hope. He was always the one to say everything would work out, that they would make it out of the most dreadful situations even when it seemed impossible. But this time, he wasn’t here to reassure her, so she needed to find the strength to do it herself. Swallowing down the newly formed lump in her throat, she looked into Daisy’s eyes and nodded slowly. “So…what do we do?”

 

\-----

 

Coulson stood with his arms crossed over his chest as he addressed Daisy, Jemma, and Elena. He considered himself lucky, as most of his team was safe because of three of them. After escaping on the Zephyr, they were able to track the location of their missing agents by hacking into AIDA’s Framework server using the memory from May’s android, which she gave to them before she blew up the base. But it was heartbreaking, Jemma and Daisy finding the rest of the team and pulling them safely out of the Framework, only to realize Fitz’s body was in a completely different location, and AIDA nowhere to be found.

Mack, May, and Mace were recuperating in the med bay, but besides May, they were only in the Framework for a few hours and didn’t remember much of that reality except for bits and pieces, so they couldn’t provide much assistance in finding Fitz. But Coulson wasn’t about to let AIDA get away with her games.

“From how I see it, we have two options. We locate Fitz’s body and manually take him out of the framework like you did with the four of us. Or, we help him beat it. According to May, that’s the only other way for him to escape on his own.”

“So how do we help him beat it?” Elena asked as she began to pace back and forth.

Silence filled the room as they milled over her question, but they all knew deep down what needed to be done. After a few more seconds without a response from anyone, Jemma finally spoke up.

“I’ll find him. I’ll hack into the framework myself and find him, convince him it’s not real.”

Coulson turned to Jemma. “You have to remember. It’s a different world there. It’s not just going to take a simple ‘this isn’t real’ to convince him. He’s going to think the Framework is his true reality, just like May.”

Daisy stood up from her chair and approached Coulson. “If there’s anyone that can convince him, it’s Jemma.”

“And what happens if she succeeds and he wakes up, but we haven’t found his body yet?” Elena countered.

“We pray that he finds a way to escape AIDA. It’s all we can do,” Daisy answered.

Elena moved to kneel in front of Jemma and placed her hand gently on her friend’s arm. “No one’s doubting your ability to convince him. We’re just worried about the world AIDA created. That’s all. We know she altered it to remove one regret, but we don’t know what that is, or how it altered reality. Who knows what’s on the other side?”

“Looks like we’re about to find out,” Daisy replied. “And she’s not going in there alone.”

Jemma looked over Elena shoulder to find Daisy’s eyes. “What? No, Daisy. You can’t!”

“Listen. If you die in there, you die in the real world. We don’t know what that world is like. So I’ll go with you. To help find Fitz and keep you safe.”

Coulson nodded in agreement. “That’s a good idea.”

But Jemma still wasn’t convinced as she buried her head in her hands. Daisy had already done so much, fighting off the LMDs at the base in order for them to escape on the Zephyr, and then hacking into AIDA’s Framework server to find the location of their missing team members. But most importantly, when they finally made it to the control room, but only found four bodies instead of five, Daisy was the one who nearly carried Jemma back to the Zephyr when the gut-wrenching anguish hit that Fitz was still out there somewhere, trapped in the Framework. Alone.

Daisy came to Jemma’s side and forced her to lift her head. “Hey, listen to me. I meant what I said. This _isn’t_ the end of your story. You and Fitz are meant to be together, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make that happen whether you like it or not. We’re doing this. Together.”

Coulson nodded his head. “So we do both. You two go into the framework, find him and convince him that it’s not real, and we’ll do everything we can here to locate his body. So if one of us doesn’t succeed, there’s a plan B. Either way, we’re getting him back.”

 

Near the med bay of the Zephyr, the team set up the hardware and heart monitors next to two recliners for Jemma and Daisy to lie on as they entered the Framework. As the two of them lay back against the headrests, Coulson moved between the recliners and placed one hand on each.  “We’re giving you three days. After that, we’re pulling you out. We can’t risk leaving you in there for too long.” He turned to face Jemma and placed his hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find his body.”

“And we’ll help him break out,” she replied. 

Coulson gave her a final nod and gestured for Elena to place the headset on Jemma’s head. “We’ll monitor your vitals carefully, but we won’t pull you out unless it seems dire. But again, three days max.”

The women nodded in understanding, and then turned their heads to look at each other one last time before going in.

“Are you ready?” Daisy asked.

“As I’ll ever be.”

 

\-----

 

_Day 1_

Jemma’s eyes burst open as her surroundings suddenly shifted before her, the transition into the Framework consuming her instantly. The first thing she noticed was the sweat covering her forehead and the back of her neck. It was humid, wherever she was, drastically different from the familiar chill of the base. And she was in a house, a rather dark and a creepy house she didn’t recognize. Looking around, she was surrounded by next to nothing, just a simple nightstand and a lamp on the side of the twin-sized mattress where she currently found herself. Sitting up, she carefully placed her feet on the floor, not wanting to make too much noise. For all she knew, she wasn’t alone, and she didn’t plan on getting herself offed within her first minute in the Framework.

Moving hesitantly toward the door of the bedroom, she peeked her head out and was relieved to find the small space empty, the only sound coming from the creaking of a ceiling fan slowly spinning overhead. It was a small house with only one bedroom and a open kitchen and living area. As she moved into the small space, it looked abandoned, with dust collecting on the surfaces and minimal furniture. There wasn’t a phone or computer anywhere, so she assumed there were few connections to the outside world, or that whoever lived here didn’t want to be found. Feeling suddenly concerned, she rushed out the front door to discover where she was. But instead of familiar scenery or anything remotely resembling her reality, she found herself just off the side of a dirt road, the house now looking even more abandoned from the outside. There were holes in the roof, a complete lack of a yard or garden, and the front door seemed to not close all the way.

“Where the hell am I?”

Turning around a few times, she checked her pockets – no phone – and then pulled her hair up off her neck as panic started to set in. This couldn’t be right, as AIDA only changed one regret in Fitz’s timeline, so it couldn’t have had such a large impact. Right?

“Okay, don’t freak out. It could be worse. You could be on another _planet_.”

Scanning the outside of the house, she was relieved to discover something sticking out from behind the house – a beat-up sedan sitting in the dead grass. It didn’t look like much, but if it could get her to the rendezvous point, she didn’t care. Pulling the door open, she thankfully found the keys still in the ignition and started the engine. Luckily, her sense of direction hadn’t been lost in the transition, and the Framework was an exact replica of the real world, _physically_ speaking, so all she could do now was drive and make her way to the rendezvous point to find Daisy.

After about an hour of driving, she finally arrived at the cemetery and spotted Daisy sitting on a bench, but with surprising long hair. Parking along the curb, she cut the engine and hurried out of the front seat, rushing over to meet her friend.

Jemma slowed down to catch her breath as she reached the bench. “I see you found it okay. Nice hair.”

“Yeah, third lamppost from the left. You were pretty specific with your choice for the backdoor. And thanks, I guess. But what took you so long? I thought you chose the rendezvous point.”

“I did, but I figured a few miles from the base was a reasonable spot for it. Where did you end up? I woke up in some abandoned house, basically falling apart. Luckily, there was a car with keys still in the ignition.” She paused her rambling at the sight of Daisy’s fallen expression. “What is it?”

“There’s something you need to see.”

Jemma cautiously followed Daisy as they walked briskly through the rows of gravestones. For a moment, a slight panic set in as she imagined finding a gravestone with Fitz’s name on it, as nothing seemed to make sense it this world already, so it was still a definite possibility. But she soon found out this wasn’t the case as suddenly, Daisy stopped, pointing at a particular gravestone at their feet. Jemma raised her hand to cover her mouth, stunned by the sight in front of her. It wasn’t Fitz’s name written in stone, but something much more alarming. It couldn’t be, it truly _couldn’t_ be, because she was standing right there. Nevertheless, there amongst the hundreds of other gravestones was one featuring her name with a passing date of November 5 th, 2016.

Jemma lowered her hand, but shook her head through her disbelief. “What…what is that?”

“I think you know what it is.”

“Yes, I know, obviously. But how…how am I dead? _Why_ am I dead? How can I _be_ here if I’m dead?” That same panic returned at full force, her throat nearly closing up as she struggled to catch her breath.

Daisy moved forward and placed her hand on Jemma’s back. “Hey, hey, hey, hold on. Let’s not freak out just yet.”

“How are you not freaking out?” Jemma managed through jagged breaths. “I’m standing over my own gravestone, for crying out loud!”

“Yes, well, I just woke up to Grant fucking Ward in my bed.”

Jemma froze, bringing her hand to cover her mouth, her own panic wearing off a bit at Daisy’s outburst. “Oh my god.”

“I mean, it’s not a competition, but like, yeah. Things are _pretty_ messed up here,” Daisy muttered through a shrug.

“I think being dead probably beats any other scenario.”

Daisy placed her hand on her forehead. “But you can’t be, okay? You can’t _actually_ be dead, because you wouldn’t be standing there in your avatar if you were.”

“Well, I can’t just go running around looking for Fitz if I’m supposed to be six feet _under_.”

“I know, I know.” Daisy moved closer to Jemma, now standing just a few inches from her face, and gripped her friend’s forearm. “But you have to listen to me. This world, it’s supposed to be a replica with less pain, but it’s _not_. Whatever AIDA did, it messed everything up, because it’s _so_ much worse.”

“What are you talking about?” Jemma whispered.

Daisy took in a deep breath before she continued. “SHIELD doesn’t exist. The leading spy organization? _Hydra_.”

Jemma’s heart dropped to her stomach. “Hy-Hydra. Oh God.”

“Yeah. And I work for them, along with Ward. It’s like some sick dream or something.”

“So what are we supposed to do?” Jemma asked, shaking her head frantically. “Is he there? Does Fitz work for Hydra as well?”

“I don’t know. But what I _do_ know is that this world thinks you’re dead. And we have to be really careful not to look suspicious, or one of us is going to get hurt.”

“I know, I know,” Jemma muttered as she brought her hand up to her forehead. “This is just going to be so much harder than I thought.”

“It’s okay. It’s fine.”

Daisy paused, but Jemma could see her friend’s brain developing a plan before her eyes.

“I work for Hydra, so I can go to headquarters to see what I can find. I’m sure Fitz isn’t too far. And I will look into your apparent death. There has to be some explanation for this. Oh, here.” Daisy reached into her pocket and pulled out a small flip phone. “Use this when you need to contact me. I’ll check in as much as I can, but I have to act natural because the last thing we need is to be killed by some crazy Hydra operatives.”

“So what do I do?”

“Go back to that house and see if there are any clues. There’s a reason you woke up there, so use that incredible brain of yours and figure out why. And call me immediately if you find anything.”

“Okay, I will.”

Feeling the sudden need for contact, Jemma pulled Daisy into a tight hug. They were supposed to be in this together, but considering the circumstances, this was just how it was going to have to be.

“Be careful,” she murmured into Daisy’s shoulder.

“I will. I work there, apparently, so it shouldn’t be that hard to do some digging. I still know how to hack my way into a system.”

Jemma pulled back from their embrace. “Oh God.”

“I’ll be fine. I promise.”

 

\-----

 

Despite the knowledge that Hydra was running its own very much public, and apparently respected, organization and headquarters at the center of D.C., Daisy felt a wave of disgust from seeing the Hydra insignia on the outside of the building. Seeing ordinary people, families and children, some even stopping to take _pictures_ on the front steps, was hard to swallow, but Daisy forced herself not to let her feelings get to her. This wasn’t real, no matter how realistic the world seemed to appear, so this small comfort kept her moving forward.

After hyping herself up on her way to headquarters, knowing she didn’t have any time to waste, Daisy strutted into the front doors with confidence, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention, but also not wanting to look like she was lost. Pulling out her ID, which she snatched off her nightstand that morning after making up an excuse to Ward about needing to see her _lady_ doctor, which he didn’t question, thankfully, she headed over to the security area.

The security guard greeted her with a broad smile. “Agent Skye. Good to see you, as always.”

“Good to see you, too,” she responded, not missing a beat and returning a smile to the gentleman.

“I see you’re not in your op gear.”

“Yeah, got assigned to something different for today,” she said as nonchalantly as possible.

“And what would that be?”

She froze, not prepared for an interrogation already, but she felt relief when a fresh grin crept its way onto the man’s face.

“I’m just messing with you. I know it’s classified. You have a good day, now,” he said cheerfully as he scanned her ID and gave her the all clear.

“You too!” she replied through a few nervous chuckles as she marched her way forward.

Once she was past the security checkpoint, she followed a sea of agents down the main walkway of the base until she found a computer terminal on the right hand side. She seemed to have a high security clearance, at least so far, so the computer logged her into the system without any problems. Lucky for her, she knew the exact date of Jemma’s death from her gravestone, so a quick search in the system didn’t seem too difficult a task to find the correct case file. She first searched for Jemma’s name and found her original file, learning that Framework Jemma also worked for Hydra as a scientist, where she was recruited just a few years ago. She obviously showed promise, as she was promoted fairly quickly to lead the entire science division, the position she held before she died. Daisy didn’t like to think about any version of Jemma working for the organization, but then again, here she was, a high level Hydra operative herself, so she really didn’t know what to think anymore about this world.

“I thought you said you had an appointment.”

Frantically, she switched the screen to the blank search window and turned her head over her shoulder. Ward stood in his tactical gear, his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk consuming his face. She gave him the warmest smile she could muster. “I did. But I have to go back later to look over the test results, so I thought I’d stop by here to get some reports done.”

“Nothing I should be worried about, these tests?” he asked, uncrossing his arms to touch her shoulder lightly.

“Oh, no,” she replied, trying her best not to flinch at his touch. It had only been a few hours in the Framework, and she already wanted to get out from the sight of him, but she knew her feelings didn’t matter. This was about Fitz, so she would have to suck it up.

She shook her head to downplay his concern. “Just making sure the ol’ body’s in top shape. You can never be too careful.”

A beat passed, which felt more like an eternity, before he replied with a curt nod. He seemed somewhat convinced, but she could see suspicion in his eyes that was all too familiar. The Ward she knew from the real world was all too good at recognizing a lie, but she hoped this version was a bit denser. Luckily, he didn’t seem overly weary as he smiled at her fondly. “Well, I’ll see you at home.”

“Okay.”

She watched him turn to leave, and then let out a deep sigh. Swallowing down the bile that just formed in the back of her throat, she turned back to the computer terminal and continued to look for any files related to the night of Jemma’s death, which upon further investigation, seemed to be next to none. There was only a death report that simply stated where she died and at what time, but little information about the cause of death. It was only when Daisy searched the database for Leopold Fitz that she found some real answers.

 

\-----

 

Once Jemma finally made it back to the house, she got to work, rummaging through every cabinet, every drawer, every piece of square footage of that space to try to find something that explained what was going on. But in such a small space, she wasn’t surprised to find little that would help her solve the mystery. She knew the place belonged to her avatar, as she found jumpers in the closet that smelled like her and her favorite brands of tea in the kitchen cupboards, but there was nothing remotely useful in helping her understand why she was living there or anything related to her supposed death. Whatever the reason for living there, her avatar must have anticipated staying for a while, as the pantry was filled with prepackaged food and plenty of bottled water. Still, little could explain why she was there or what she was supposedly hiding from. If only should could take over her avatar’s brain and not just her body. It would have made this trip a whole lot easier.

While she searched through the kitchen drawers a second time, the sudden ringing of the burner phone in her pocket gave her a fright, but she quickly centered herself and flipped it open, hoping for better news from Daisy’s end. “Hello?”

“Jemma?”

“I’m here.”

“I got into Hydra’s database and found the report. You apparently died in a lab explosion about four months ago.”

“A lab explosion?” Moving toward the sofa, she sunk down into the cushion to process this revelation.

“Yeah, you were tampering with some device, or something. I don’t really understand it. But it malfunctioned, causing it to explode. You were the only one in the lab that day. Oh, and I guess I should mention…you were a _Hydra_ scientist, specifically.”

“Good lord. This world truly is messed up. Does it say anything else about the device?” She was met with no response. “Daisy?”

“Sorry, yeah, there’s uh…quite a lot about it, actually. Its origins, anyway.”

“What is it?”

“The device itself was developed by a company called LFTech.”

Jemma scrunched her face up through her confusion. “What’s LF…wait…”

“As in…Leopold Fitz Technology.”

“Oh my god,” Jemma muttered, her stomach now doing a backflip.

“There’s more. And I know this is going to sound like a lot, but we don’t have a lot of time to process all this, so I’m just going to have to break it to you the hard way.”

“Okay. I know, I know. Keep going.”

“Apparently, LFTech is one of Hydra’s top technology contractors, so they provide lab tech, weapons, everything. They have a separate office just a few streets down from here.”

“Ah, well, at least he’s not working for Hydra _directly_. That’s uh…that’s comforting, I guess.”

“Yeah, but his company provides nearly all the technology for Hydra’s operations. He’s a billionaire, apparently.”

“So that means…”

“The technology that caused the explosion – Fitz invented it.”

Jemma tried to respond, but felt a sudden wave of dizziness. “That’s…uh…that’s not comforting…”

“Jemma, we don’t know about his involvement, and we still don’t know why you’re walking around in your avatar. There has to be something in that house that explains all this.”

“I know. I’m still looking, but so far, I haven’t found anything remotely helpful. But I’ll call you if I find anything.”

“Good. I’ll keep digging and see if I can find any more information about the explosion.”

“Okay, keep me posted.”

“I will.”

Flipping the phone closed, Jemma groaned as she sprawled out on the sofa. She didn’t know what she imagined the Framework would be like, but it was nothing compared to this madness. Hydra. And Fitz – a _billionaire_. It made sense, really, with his genius level IQ, and if given the opportunity outside of S.H.I.E.L.D., he probably could have made a sizable living from selling off his inventions in the real world.

She didn’t want to think about it, but a small part of her deep down figured the regret AIDA changed was related to his father. For all she knew, he was behind everything – the absence of S.H.I.E.L.D, the rise of Hydra, Fitz’s company. She never met the man, but if her assumptions were accurate, from this small glimpse of his character, she would be sure she and Fitz steered clear of him in the real world.

Needing some air after hearing this new information, she pushed herself off the sofa and out the door of the house to stand next to the dirt road. It was a bit cooler now, and a slight breeze whisked her hair out of her face as she stared off into the unfamiliar scenery. Feeling a bit more relaxed, her mind wandered to her Framework identity and how she connected to Fitz. Maybe they knew each other, especially if Fitz’s company provided the tech for the lab. Or maybe their paths never crossed, him too busy running his company to ever set foot in her workspace. Still, all things considered, they could have been secret lovers for all she knew.

As much as she wanted to continue daydreaming about their story, she really needed to find something to help Daisy, so she walked around the perimeter of the house.

“It’s alright. Fitz always said when you can’t solve a problem, just look for the thing that doesn’t belong…look for the thing that…doesn’t…”

When she reached the backside of the house, something caught her eye that she didn’t notice before.

“Belong.”

Along the back wall of the house was an AC unit, not very large, but there weren’t any thermostats in the house to control it. And Jemma was fairly certain her avatar would have taken advantage of the air con if she had the option. But the house was humid.

Which meant it wasn’t being used for air conditioning.

Mapping the layout of the house in her head, she marched back inside and made her way to the closet at the back wall of the bedroom. Stepping inside the small space, it still looked normal at first glance, just as it did when she completed her initial search, but after skimming her hands over the inside wall, she could feel a slight give. Feeling around the edge, she finally found what she was looking for – a small notch where she could slip her finger just underneath. The piece of the wall immediately pulled away, revealing her original speculation of the edge of the AC unit, but inside was what she was really looking for.

A safe.

With a digital combination lock.

“Oh God. Of _course_.”

If this were the real world, she would have figured out the combination in a heartbeat, as she always created her passwords around something only she and Fitz would know, just in the rare case that he had to crack one of her passwords in an emergency. But this wasn’t their world, and she didn’t even know if this Jemma knew this Fitz in the first place, so the combination could be anything.

Without thinking, she entered the first words that popped into her head.

L-E-O-P-O-L-D-F-I-T-Z

The safe beeped and flashed a red light, indicating the combination was incorrect. Jemma groaned and slammed her hand against the safe. She thought of breaking it open, as there was bound to be something in the house heavy enough to smash it, but she didn’t know what was inside and didn’t want to risk breaking or destroying whatever it was. So she continued thinking. The password had to be something that even if she didn’t meet Fitz was still a part of who she was,  like a word or a phrase that she carried with her in the back of her head, always there to remind her of home, or even a dream. In an instant, she pressed her fingers frantically against the buttons to type out a different combination.

P-E-R-T-H-S-H-I-R-E

The safe gave a slight whoosh sound and a green light appeared. Jemma let out a deep sigh of relief and pulled on the safe’s handle. It wasn’t a large safe, but large enough to shock her by the entirety of its contents. Inside were hundreds of folders, documents, and journals crammed to the brim, nearly making it impossible to close the safe shut. She reached in and grabbed the top folder, laying it open in her lap. The folder was full of files, blueprints, and schematics over a particular device she didn’t recognize. From her quick scanning of the documents, she discovered it was some sort of device meant to contain explosions, probably for use in the field to protect civilians and agents from mysterious deadly weaponry. But along the margins of the documents were notes, hundreds of markings and additions she didn’t understand at first glance. Moving through page after page, it was almost becoming too much until she came across the final page in the folder. It was starred in the top right hand corner, and along the bottom of the page was a short note.  

_Now or never. 5-11-16_

Slowly, the blueprints, the notes, _everything_ started to add up.

She didn’t die in the explosion.

Because she _manufactured_ the explosion.


	2. Chapter 2

_The Framework – November 17 th, 2014_

 

“Look at you giving him heart eyes across the lab.”

Jemma took off her goggles and threw them on the lab table in front of her. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“I’m not stupid. I know a woman in love when I see one.”

It was quite early in the morning for this kind of talk between Jemma and her lab mate. Usually, Julian would at least wait until their lunch break before launching into her seemingly never-ending quest to find Jemma a suitable match among the Hydra agents and, apparently, anyone with a pulse that seemed to wander into their place of work. But this was a different occasion. Their lab welcomed a guest today, a rather _special_ guest, and it was only fitting that Julian would use this time to tease Jemma about her love life rather than prepping the lab to impress their visitor with their current projects.

“Julian, would you be quiet? I’m not…in love. I barely even know him,” Jemma whispered as she picked up her pen and sifted through her notebook in an attempt to ignore her colleague.

The lab tech crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. “But you want to, right? He’s intelligent and sexy as hell, obviously. You two would make _quite_ a pair. And he’s got cash through the roof, so you would be set for life.”

“Seriously, do I have to sedate you? I’m not an idiot. He would never even consider someone like me. And I’ve heard he’s utterly intolerable, so that’s that.”

Julian shrugged. “I wouldn’t be so sure. I saw him eyeing you the minute he walked in the room. Just wait till he hears your _accent_. He’ll be swooning.”

Jemma looked up from her work, rolling her eyes. “Well, I don’t think his fiancé would appreciate that, now, would she?”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t flirt with him, or at least show off a bit.”

“Bloody hell,” Jemma said under her breath as her attention was drawn to the front of the lab where, if she was not mistaken, she heard a distinct Scottish accent standing out amongst the chatter of the rest of her colleagues.

“Settle down, everyone! Let’s gather round,” her lab supervisor called out as he gestured everyone forward. Jemma slipped off her lab chair and moved toward the group, picking a place in the back to stand.

Her supervisor then placed a firm hand on the visitor’s shoulder. “I’m sure you are all familiar with our guest today. But just to be clear, this is Leopold Fitz, CEO and founder of LFTech, Hydra’s leading provider of all things technology and weaponry. He will be visiting our labs today, so please feel free to share your projects with him and show him around. He’ll be making trips throughout the entire department, so make sure you take advantage of your time with him today. Now, back to work.”

Turning around and quickly returning to her station, Jemma returned her eyes to her notebook, but couldn’t help but look up every few seconds to follow the visitor’s movements. He was a short fellow, not much taller than herself, but that didn’t stop him from appearing intimidating. Maybe it was the suit, and his apparent expensive taste, or how he carried himself, but whatever it was, it was obviously having an effect on everyone in the room. Her colleagues seemed to be showing off as much as possible as he took his time roaming between the different lab stations, making adjustments to equipment where he could be of assistance, commenting on different projects here and there. But for the most part, he seemed unimpressed, keeping his hands in his pockets most of the time and seeming to lose interest after a few seconds of rehearsed banter from her colleagues.

She also noticed was him seeming to skip over her station and move on to the next without even a glance.

_So much for him being interested._

After about a half hour of mapping out the lab, stopping by nearly every station for observation except her own, he finally strolled over to Jemma’s lab station and leaned an elbow onto the table to rest his chin against his hand. Looking into her microscope, her brows furrowed, she didn’t want to seem too eager for attention, so she continued her observation without looking up at his arrival. But in her peripheral vision, she could have sworn she saw him crack a smile.

“Well, you seem to be concentrating rather intensely. May I ask what you’re working on?”

“You may.” She paused, raising an eyebrow without making eye contact, and waited for him to continue. She answered _precisely_ what he asked, after all.

He let out a single chuckle. “What are you working on?”

“It’s an antiserum for a Chitauri virus. I’m just making a few adjustments before testing it again see if it’s ready for this delivery device that—”

“Ah, yes.” He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her another slight smile. “I’m proud of that one, suspends the vaccine _and_ conducts electricity.”

She looked up to finally meet his eyes. His astonishingly _blue_ eyes. “I’m sure you are. And it’s not a _vaccine_ , more of an antiserum.”

“Right.” Leaning forward, he peeked a glance at her notebook. “So, have you had any luck?”

“Unfortunately, I’ve been _less_ than successful,” she said, moving toward the other side of the table where a cage of mice resided. “I’m still testing on our poor subjects here, but it doesn’t seem to be functioning properly. Maybe the device isn’t calibrated correctly…”

“Nah, I don’t think it’s the device.”

She looked up to give him a look, one she probably shouldn’t be giving a _guest_ of the lab, but at this point, she didn’t really care.

He scratched his jawline while she continued to stare. “So...where did the virus originate?”

“A Chitauri helmet. Some poor souls were in its vicinity and were infected, but we don’t know anyone who has survived the virus, so we don’t even have a subject to make an antiserum from. I’ve tried a few different calibrations using antibodies, but still, nothing—”

“Wait.”

She raised her eyebrow.

“You said humans were infected and killed, correct?”

“Yes,” she replied, drawing out the word.

“But it was a _Chitauri_ wearing the helmet in the first place, so it must have been infected itself, right?”

“Yes, but it...survived.” _Of course_. “And it didn’t release any electrostatic pulses because—”

“It was immune.”

“Exactly! And if we could scrape some epithelial cells from the inside of the helmet—”

“We could create a vaccine.”

“ _Antiserum._ ” She resisted the strange urge to poke him in the chest.

“Yeah, what you said.”

After a quick phone call down to the Hydra vault, the helmet was produced and the pair of them got to work, pulling samples from the inner lining of the helmet and going through the same calibration procedures. But for Jemma, this was a different experience, having another person by her side, him knowing exactly what the next step was before she even had to say anything, but also not getting too much in her way. He made sure to keep his distance whenever she narrowed her eyes in concentration, as if he knew she was in the middle of a breakthrough.

When they reached the final step of calibrating the delivery mechanism with the antiserum, he stepped to her side, invading her space a bit. “May I do the honors?”

Giving him a slight smile, she nodded. “You may.”

Placing his hand inside the glove attached to the side of the cage, he picked up the mouse and used his device to apply the electric shock to the mouse’s backside. Removing his hand from the cage, he stepped back and leaned against the lab table, his shoulder nearly brushing against Jemma’s. She tried to ignore how her heart rate seemed to increase, but she told herself it was just the anticipation of knowing if the antiserum was successful.

As if he sensed her slight nerves, he bumped her arm lightly. “It’ll work. I know it will.”

But the sudden sound of static brought their attention back to the cage as the mouse began to float just like the rest of Jemma’s trials.

She dropped her head to her chest. “You were saying?”

Pushing off the edge of the table, he approached the cage and placed his hands on the side of the glass. “Just give it a minute.”

Shaking her head, she returned to her notebook, feeling her face turn red. She didn’t feel embarrassed, per say, but she didn’t like failing in front of him on his first visit to her lab. But, then again, she didn’t understand why a part of her wanted to impress him in the first place.

She picked up her pen to return to her brainstorming. “It’s fine. I’ll just keep at it, figure out another way…”

“Hey, look!”

She turned around at his outburst to see the mouse fully awake, moving about happily inside the cage. Her visitor gestured for her to join him by the cage.

Letting out a sigh of relief, she moved forward and opened the top hatch, taking the mouse carefully between her hands. “Ah, there we are. Good as new. You’re a lucky one, you are.” After stroking her thumb soothingly over the mouse’s head, she placed it carefully back in the cage and closed it shut.

Nodding his head, he tapped his knuckle on the tabletop. “Glad I could help.”

She turned to face him, narrowing her eyes slightly. “I could have…I could have figured it out myself.”

“I’m sure you would have, but there’s nothing wrong with bouncing ideas off of each other.”

Shaking her head, she let her eyes fall slightly to her feet. “Whatever you say.”

Out of nowhere, he produced a rather ridiculous grin as he started to chuckle.

Jemma looked back up and tilted her head to the side. “What’s so funny?”

“I don’t even know your name. I guess we got too caught up in all this to even…well, anyway.” He stepped forward with an outstretched hand, a warm smile radiating up to his eyes. “Leopold Fitz. Engineering.”

Taking his hand firmly in hers, she met his eyes and smiled fondly. “Jemma Simmons. Biochemist.”

“Well, Jemma. Thank you for making my visit less boring. Hopefully…I’ll uh…see you again soon?”

For a second, it almost sounded like he hesitated, which was the first instance from today that he displayed any sort of lack of confidence, but Jemma admired this moment. It made him seem more human, like someone she could maybe even admire if she got the chance to know him better.

She nodded her head as she glanced at the ceiling. “I’m sure you will.”

Smiling even wider, he turned to leave, but not before jamming the toe of his shoe into the edge of her lab table and stumbling forward. He managed to catch himself by gripping the edge of the table, but his performance still produced a few small giggles from Jemma. She covered her mouth to stifle them as much as possible.

Clearing his throat, he straightened himself and adjusted his suit jacket. “Good. Good. I’ll…I’ll see you later,” he mumbled as he made it way out of the lab as quickly as possible.

On cue, Julian sauntered over to Jemma’s station, a sly smile on her face. “I told you.”

“What?”

“He’s literally falling for you already.”

Jemma let her head fall into her hands. “Oh my God.”

 

\-----

 

“It was me, or _Framework_ me, whatever, _I_ caused the explosion.”

Jemma paced back and forth in the living room, her mind racing. She could hear the sound of chatter coming from the other line and figured Daisy was in some sort of restaurant, a _diner_ , if she knew her well enough.

“Yeah, I thought we knew that already,” Daisy responded, keeping her voice low. “It was ruled an accident. Something went wrong when you were tampering with that device in the lab.”

“No, you don’t understand. I caused it, as in, I _made_ it happen. It wasn’t an accident. I wanted it to happen.”

“You wanted to die?”

“No, no, no. I…I wanted to make it _look_ like I died. And obviously, I succeeded.”

“Oh my God.”

Collapsing onto the sofa, Jemma began rummaging through the contents she pulled from the safe.  “Yeah. And I found all her journals, her notes. _Everything_ is here. They knew each other, her and Fitz, and he visited her in the lab. And they were…” She paused to catch her breath. “I think they were falling in love with each other, but he didn’t know how she felt. And she wanted an escape, a way out of that lab and everything to do with Hydra. She was committed to _science_ , not Hydra’s nonsense.”

“But why fake her death? Why not just walk out and leave?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she thought it was her only option to steer clear of Hydra completely.”

“Okay, okay, but listen. Your family, they filed a lawsuit against LFTech, saying it was Fitz’s fault that the explosion occurred.”

Jemma dropped the file she was holding. _“What?”_

“Yeah. They settled, but he’s basically banned from ever touching that kind of technology again or stepping foot in those labs.”

Jemma closed her eyes and pictured the Framework version of him, most likely consumed by guilt. _Oh Fitz_. “He probably thinks it’s all his fault.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t need to, right? All we have to do is show him you’re alive and then we can go back.”

“But…Daisy, it’s…it’s not that simple.”

She wanted it to be that simple. But she knew it was going to be far from it.

Exhaling slowly, she gathered her thoughts to explain herself. “What kind of man in his right mind would trust someone...who faked her own death using _his_ technology, and then come out of nowhere to say ‘Just kidding, I’m alive’ as if nothing had happened? And then on _top_ of that, we still have to convince him that this world isn’t even real. Why on earth would he believe us?”

She heard Daisy let out a similar breath. “Yeah, you’re right. But there has to be a way to convince him to trust you, right?”

“Part of me thinks she’s waiting for something. Her house isn’t that far away, so there’s a reason why she’s staying close by. Like she…”

As she let her sentence trail off, she scanned the contents in her lap. If this Jemma truly wanted to escape, she would have been long gone by now, probably in another country at this point. But she _stayed_. And she didn’t show any signs of leaving, so she had to be waiting for something in particular.

Suddenly, she saw it clearly in her head. The house. The journals. The car. _A way out_.

Jemma brought her hand up to her cheek. “Daisy, she’s _waiting_ for him. She wants him to _find her_. But she didn’t anticipate the lawsuit or how he would react to her death, so he never did. So we have to _help_ him.”

“How do we do that?”

“There’s a reason why she faked her death in this particular way, as she must have done something for him to know she’s alive. We just have to figure it out. Or rather—”

 _“He_ has to figure it out.”

“Precisely. LMD Fitz said that we’re meant to be together in this world. Maybe, this is _her_ way of making that happen. So if we can help him figure out how and why she faked her own death, and let him find her, or _me_ , on his own, we can…reunite them and _pray_ that he’ll trust me enough to follow us out of the Framework.”

“So, in other words, he has to complete the FitzSimmons love story in the Framework before you guys can continue it outside of the Framework.”

Jemma felt her cheeks flush. “Well, when you say it like that…”

“It’s kind of romantic. Yeah, I agree. But we don’t have much _time_. And we have to be able to convince Framework Fitz that he’s meant to be with Framework Jemma…even though he thinks she’s _dead_ …and he thinks his device _caused_ her death.”

“Okay, we should really stop saying it out loud.”

“But how are we going to do this? There’s little to no information about the explosion, just the case file. It’s like it’s hidden or vanished.”

“There has to be information somewhere. With your clearances, you should be able to help him investigate on Hydra’s servers. Meanwhile, I’ll go through her notes and journals to see if there’s anything that can help point you in the right direction.”

“Okay, great. But first, I have to set up a meeting with him, convince him to open back up a case that is probably _killing_ him with guilt, and pray that he figures out that you’re alive in…less than three days.”

“You’ve conquered more challenging missions.”

“Your faith in me is scary.”

“You’ll be fine. And call me with your progress.”

“I’ll keep you updated.”

Jemma snapped the phone shut and tossed it on the sofa beside her.

Daisy wasn’t wrong. Jemma’s faith in her was endless, as she knew her friend could handle any mission, especially after her performance fighting off the LMDs. But even if this wasn’t _her_ Fitz, it didn’t stop Jemma from feeling the slightest bit of envy, knowing Daisy was going to be the first to see his face since AIDA took him. But she knew they needed to stick to the plan, so she returned to the safe and pulled out the next file.

 

\-----

 

Surprisingly, it didn’t take much to secure a meeting in Fitz’s upscale office just a few blocks away from the Hydra base. Maybe it was the lawsuit hanging over his head that made him more willing to meet Hydra’s demands, but Daisy didn’t question it as she rode the elevator up to the top floor of the LFTech tower. In her bag, she carried printed files about Jemma’s case, as well as anything she could find about the lab and Fitz’s visits. It wasn’t going to be easy, this she knew, but something told her a threat from a high level Hydra agent like herself would get him where she needed him.

As she entered the reception area of his office, she was astounded by the appearance, all sleek surfaces and red accents, nearly the complete opposite of the Fitz she knew. The receptionist looked up from her computer upon hearing Daisy approach.

“I have a meeting with Leopold Fitz.”

“Yes, he’s expecting you. Right this way.”

The receptionist led her down a short hallway before stopping at a large door. Daisy was surprised to find no windows into the office, assuming the sleek nature of the rest of the floor would follow through to his working space. But instead, the walls and door were dark, haunting, like he was hiding away in his own little sanctuary, wanting no one from the outside world to intrude.

The receptionist knocked once, and then opened the door without waiting for a response, gesturing Daisy to follow her inside. “Your 2 o’clock is here for you.”

“Yes, please come in. Agent…?”

She tried to respond, but was too taken aback by the sight in front of her. She did her research before setting up the meeting, learning as much as she could about him from media clippings and interviews. But nothing prepared her for actually seeing him in person. It was Fitz, alright, but his appearance told her otherwise. He wore a crisp three-piece black suit with a dark red tie, his hair parted and slicked to the side in a strange fashion. If she didn’t know him already, she would have passed him off as an utter douchebag.

Once the receptionist closed the door behind her, Daisy gathered herself enough to form a response. “Skye, just call me Skye.”

“Okay, Skye. You said you’re here to discuss new…agreements. Although, I have to say, I wasn’t aware of any changes being made, so what are Hydra’s intentions this time?”

“They appreciate your input, and are considering a more open relationship with your company. We’d hate to see this relationship crumble after you’ve assisted us on so many ventures.”

“Well, I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t have all day, so let’s get to it, shall we?” He gestured for her to sit in the chair opposite him, leaning back in his own.

Daisy didn’t move, knowing this was the moment she needed to quit her charade.

“What?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

Reaching her hand behind her, she carefully turned the lock of the door with a satisfying click. “I’m not here to discuss agreements, I’m afraid.” Dropping her bag into the seat, she walked forward and leaned over his desk, staring intensely. “I already disconnected your security feeds and your comms. So there’s no use in trying to run.”

Looking to his left and right, he took a deep breath and swallowed hard before meeting her eyes again with a menacing look of his own. “What do you want?”

“Your time. I’m here because I need you to help me understand something about a particular Hydra case file.”

“Let’s see it, then,” he said sternly.

She pulled the file from her bag and dropped it on top of his desk. Looking up at her with a mix of curiosity and weariness, he flipped open the folder. Upon seeing the first page, along with the accompanying photograph of Jemma paper clipped to the inside of the folder, he slammed his fist onto his desk and closed the file shut.

“This…this case has been settled,” he said through gritted teeth as he pressed his finger into the folder.

“In court, yes. But what I want to know is why so much of this case doesn’t make sense.”

“You think I know why it doesn’t make sense?” he nearly shouted, throwing up his hands. “What do you think I did for the last few months settling this case? Neither side could figure out what actually happened, which is why a settlement was put into place.”

Daisy crossed her arms. “So you agree that there’s more to it than simply an accident?”

Clearly aggravated, he brought his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose and let out a defeated sigh. “It’s already clear what I think about this case. It was an accident, yes, but I don’t understand why it happened.” At this, he got up from his chair, turning around to avoid Daisy’s stare. “I…I don’t know if I ever will,” he whispered.

“But don’t you want to find out what happened?” she asked as she moved around to his side of the desk.

He huffed. “Why does it matter to you?”

“Did you know that I knew her? She and I, we were good friends. And she was a good person. She wanted to do right by the world and pursue science to help people.”  She paused, him still not looking at her, so she moved to stand just a few inches from his side. “You cared about her, didn’t you?”

He shook his head as he looked down at his shoes, giving her a sad smile and rubbing his lips together. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s not that hard to track your visits. The most frequented place of yours? The lab. And not just any lab, _her_ lab. She was brilliant, so of course you couldn’t stay away. But it wasn’t just her mind that fascinated you. It was everything about her.”

“Stop,” he said as severely as possible, although Daisy could hear a hint of his voice breaking.

Feeling a bit daring, she grabbed his bicep forcefully. “You _loved_ her, didn’t you?”

“Shut up.”

“Admit it. She died and it _killed_ you. But you couldn’t admit it because you were the middle of settling a lawsuit. But you grieved her, quietly, right? And then you did everything you could to move on. Travel the world, go on expensive vacations with you fake fiancé.” At this point, Daisy was taking a few liberties with her story, not knowing all the details of his life since Jemma’s death, but regardless of this, she knew it was working, as his eyes were now turning red, his forehead beginning to sweat. “But it wasn’t enough, was it?”

He didn’t answer her question, but offered up his own. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because she deserves better. And I cared about her, loved her too. And if there is anything that is buried within this case, I will do everything in my power to figure it out, but I need your help. You’re the only one that understands the technology. You said it yourself, at the trial, there’s no explanation for why it malfunctioned. So there has to be another piece to this puzzle.”

“And what if I say no?” he asked, finally meeting her eyes.

“Then you’d be making a big mistake. I know that there is one sliver of hope left in you. Don’t let that die. Use it and help me to figure this out. You owe her that much.”

He didn’t respond. Instead he wiped at his nose with the back of his hand and shrugged her off his arm.

Daisy stared at him, disappointed. “Well, then,” she whispered as she turned toward the door. But the sudden pull of him grabbing at her wrist made her pause once more.

“Wait.”

Their eyes met again, hers now full of hope as she waited in silence.

He swallowed hard and gave her the slightest nod. “Let me see the file again.”

 

\-----

 

_The Framework – January 14, 2015_

 

“You’re staring again.”

Jemma scanned her computer as the blood results displayed on the screen. At this point, they’d developed a routine – Fitz stopping by in the morning to watch her work, assisting her here and there before they broke for lunch and parted ways. Sometimes, or most of the time, really, he would bring her blueprints and journals filled with ideas of his for new inventions, always wanting her initial opinion before moving forward with a project. But today, he didn’t bring anything with him, just the cardigan on his back that she allowed him to place on the back of her chair while she worked. She wasn’t oblivious to how comfortable he always made himself, but he wasn’t distracting in any way, so she allowed him to continue with his visits. Even if these visits made her stomach flip a little more intensely each time he walked through the lab door.

Fitz tilted his head to the side and placed his hands on his hips. “I’m not allowed to look at you now?”

Jemma turned to face him, giving him a look of mock annoyance. “No, you are, of _course_. But…sometimes I can’t understand what you find so fascinating. It’s just a blood sample.”

“I just enjoy watching you work. I can’t help it if you’re the smartest one in the room.” He looked around at the other lab occupants, an intelligent bunch, indeed, but nowhere near Jemma’s caliber.

“But you will admit that your visits are becoming more frequent, right?”

He shrugged. “I like to see how everyone’s getting on. And I enjoy the company.”

“Yes, but…certain people are noticing.” Her eyes shifted slightly in the direction of Julian snickering in the corner, obviously finding the whole situation amusing.

“Well, let them notice. I don’t care. I’m allowed to roam wherever I want. So what if I enjoy this lab in particular?”

Noticing him staring at her a bit longer than usual, Jemma bit her lip in an attempt to hide her smile. She figured he knew how much she enjoyed his company as well, but she didn’t want to make it _too_ obvious.

As she moved to the other side of her station to her microscope, positioning the slide in place, he followed her and leaned against the table to watch her closely. “Did you always want to be a biochemist?”

Jemma looked up, surprised by the sudden change in subject. As much as they enjoyed talking about science and technology, they didn’t spend much time speaking of anything else, really, so the idea of him wanting to know something so personal seemed a bit out of the blue, but not unwelcome in the slightest.

She tugged on her ponytail as she thought back to her time as a young prodigy. “I think so. My parents were very encouraging, even though they were probably worried sick at sending their 16-year-old off to a strange academy all on her own. Especially when the organization was a bit controversial. But they had the best biochem program, so it wasn’t like I was just going to pass that up.”

“I imagine there weren’t that many 16-year-olds at the Academy,” he said as he poked her arm.

She smiled sheepishly, returning her eyes to her microscope. “I was the youngest in my class. But it was fine. I excelled, moved up quickly. It was easier that way, not having anyone to distract me.”

“It was probably lonely though.”

She paused her observation to look down at her feet. He was right. It _was_ lonely, all that time she spent in those Academy labs, working without a partner for a majority of her time due to her much higher skill level and intelligence. She liked to think others were simply intimidated by her, which she truly couldn’t help, but deep down, she also worried it was her personality, or an inability to connect with people. Whatever it was, she didn’t like to think about it too long, as it made her wish for certain fantasies that were utterly impossible.

She looked back up to meet his eyes. “I think everyone experiences loneliness at one point or another. But I’m here now. The Academy is in the past. What about you? Did you always want to be an engineer?”

Nodding his head, he crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned further into the lab table. “Yeah, definitely. My father was… _supportive_ , granted, in his own way, but he made sure I thought about everything before I continued my pursuit – the business side, how I could turn my work into a company. He wanted me to be focused, driven. I guess he had the right idea, because look where I am now.”

She nodded in agreement, but couldn’t help noticing how carefully he seemed to choose his words. “But do you miss it? Just working in your own lab? I assume you don’t have as much time for research.”

“All the time. But that’s the sacrifice you have to make when your father trusts you enough to run the company on your own. For the most part.”

“Well, I’m sure your lab is much more impressive than this one.”

He scoffed. “You’d be surprised. It’s not much different than this. Less people, I guess, but all the same equipment. Although, I wouldn’t say mine is as _particular_ as yours.”

“What?”

“I, for one, am a fan of color coding, but _this_ is next level,” he said as he picked up her pad of rainbow colored sticky notes.

“ _Hey_ ,” she exclaimed, snatching the pad out of his hand. “You said so yourself. B is for blue is for—”

“For biological, yes. I agree with you there. _That_ one makes sense.”

“And I happen to like a tidy lab. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“You’re right. There’s not.” He continued to stare at her for a moment longer, forcing her to look down to her notes for fear of him seeing her cheeks flush. He was giving her one of those looks again, the kind of look she thought about before she fell asleep at night as her mind played a relentless game of what-if.

 

\-----

 

Letting the journal fall to her lap, Jemma released a deep sigh and brought her hands up to rub her eyes. It was a strange feeling - painful, but also intriguing - reading about a different FitzSimmons and how their story developed, but also knowing where it ended. From the journal entries, she could picture it clearly, a more successful Fitz, nearly on top of the world, but still the kind and gentle soul she knew from the real world, just buried a bit deeper under such expensive clothing.

But reading about their story was also feeding her frustration over her current situation. She wanted to do more to help Daisy in guiding the investigation along, but the journal entries were so... _distracting_. Even if it was a completely different world, it was so fascinating to be on the outside, to see the give and take of their relationship and how their feelings seemed to develop over time.

It also wasn’t helping her feelings of how much she missed _her_ Fitz. The way Framework Jemma described Framework Fitz in the journal - the way he talked and interacted with her in that lab - it reminded Jemma so much of his true self, even if this version lived a completely different life. And as much as she despised thinking about the android behind this mess, she prayed AIDA was keeping him safe, constantly checking his vitals, his brain activity. She ached to have him by her side and for things to be back to normal, and it was nearly killing her not knowing where AIDA was keeping him, but she couldn’t let her feelings distract her from her mission at hand. Wasting the day away daydreaming wasn’t going to get him back. So she pulled her hair up into a high ponytail and got back to sifting through the files.

Finding one of the earlier folders marked 2015, she flipped it open and found something that caught her eye. It was a blueprint for a lab renovation, which she assumed occurred when her Framework self got her promotion as head of the science division. It seemed to be quite intensive, the renovation, with lots of new additions, her notes taking up all of the excess space on the page. But beside her notes were additions in someone else’s handwriting. Handwriting she would _always_ recognize. She couldn’t help but giggle at one of the notations in the corner near an outline for a rather large holotable.

_This should be at the top of the list. If your bosses won’t pay for it, I will._

She liked the idea of Framework Fitz contributing ideas to the lab, helping Framework Jemma with the designs, the planning. It seemed to be their space, their _home_ , as it was the only place they ever seemed to interact as far as Jemma knew from reading the journal entries. It also seemed like the most likely place for Daisy and Fitz to find anything remotely helpful in solving this mystery.

 

\-----

 

“We saw all this already during the trial. It’s the same report. The device exploded, they recovered her DNA at the scene, and she was the only one in the lab that night.”

Nearly two hours had passed since Daisy’s initial meeting with Fitz, which they spent perusing the files Daisy retrieved from Hydra’s database. It was tedious work, and Daisy suspected Fitz was still not completely on board with the idea of reopening the case, but she did notice him starting to examine the documents with a more intense look in his eye, so she remained optimistic.

Daisy skimmed the original case file and she paced back and forth. “But it doesn’t make sense. If it didn’t malfunction, the only explanation is that she made a miscalculation, but she wouldn’t do that, especially if she was working alone. She would have been more careful.”  

Fitz moved his hands to cover his face and dragged them down slowly. “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out for the last four months.”

He picked up a document from Daisy’s pile and turned it around in front of him, exhaling deeply. Suddenly, Daisy’s phone buzzed in her pocket, so she pulled it out to read the incoming caller – UNKNOWN.

“Hold on, I have to take this.”

“Take your time,” he replied without looking up from his document.

Stepping into the hall, she pulled the phone up to her ear. “Hey, did you find anything?” she whispered urgently.

She heard Jemma exhale on the other line. “Not exactly, but part of me thinks that she left something behind, physically, maybe for him to find. I don’t know what it is yet, but whatever it is, it might be in the lab. They spent so much time there, so maybe she wanted him to go there after the explosion. You can try to investigate the blast sight, see if he notices anything that stands out.”

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

“ _Wait_ …so, uh…how is he?”

Daisy placed her hand on her forehead, searching for the right words. “He’s…different. More formal, I guess. I think that’s the best description for now. He’s still Fitz, but…something’s missing. But I think I know what that is. How are you holding up?”

“I’m okay. I wish there was more I could do. I just feel like I’m sitting around while you’re doing all the work.”

“No, you’re helping. I promise. You’ll understand the files more than me, so keep looking and see if anything else makes sense. They’re _your_ notes, technically.”

“Yes, but it’s not the same without seeing the device in front of me, which I’m assuming would be impossible to get our hands on. And she doesn’t have the same shorthand as I do, but I guess I developed mine with…and they never went to the Academy together, so…”

“Hey, we’re going to figure this out. I’ll call you if we make any progress, but try to stay positive, okay? We’re going to convince him. I promise.”

She heard Jemma exhale slowly. “Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”

After placing the phone securely in her pocket, she returned to Fitz’s office to find him organizing the files, sorting them into piles and writing small notes in the margins. For a split second, he looked like the real Fitz, determined to figure out a puzzle only his brain could solve. But when he looked up, and she saw that haircut again, it brought her right out of that fantasy.

She moved to his side of the desk to look over his shoulder at his work. “I was just thinking. Have you examined the lab since the explosion?

“I wasn’t allowed. They said it would _compromise_ the investigation. I’m not allowed within 200 meters of that lab. It’s part of the settlement.”

“But did they give it a thorough investigation?”

“Supposedly. I mean, I’m sure they didn’t spend too much time on it, as she was the only one there that night, and they recovered the device, so they were pretty quick to conclude that it was just a lab accident. But they could have easily missed something or botched the investigation just to move the case along. Anything’s possible, really. Why, what did you have in mind?”

Daisy leaned against the desk, giving him a slight smile. “Have you ever gone undercover?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for such lovely comments on the first chapter! FYI - this is going to be five chapters and an epilogue. My goal is to finish posting it before the show returns for 4C. Thanks for reading! Find me on tumblr at [whatlighttasteslike](http://whatlighttasteslike.tumblr.com) if you would like to chat! <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for such lovely comments on the last chapter! My apologies for not updating sooner - I had two research papers due this week, so I wasn't able to focus on this until they were completed. But hopefully this beast of a chapter will make up for it!

_Day 2_

 

Jemma woke up early, unable to sleep much in the unfamiliar bed and the obvious lack of her other half to curl into, which always helped her fall asleep in the real world. She was also up late thinking about Daisy, worried about her safety due to her having to retire for the day in a bed shared with Ward, but she couldn’t let herself get too worried. Daisy knew how to take care of herself.

After showering – thankfully, the house still had running hot water - she prepared herself some tea and returned to the contents of the safe. She knew she should be reading the files, as Daisy reported to her last night of their plan to inspect the lab first thing in the morning, but all she wanted to do was continue reading the journal entries. Then again, it was still important for her to understand their relationship if this Fitz was going to trust her to follow her out of the Framework.

Cracking open the journal where she left off the previous night, she curled into the sofa and allowed her mind to drift.

 

\-----

 

_The Framework - March 15, 2016_

 

“Are you making fun of me?”

“A little.”

A sea of packages consumed the space of her lab station, and Jemma wasted no time prying them open to explore their contents. Fitz laughed as he leaned against her chair, clearly amused by her excitement.

She tossed the wrapping from the third box over her shoulder and pulled out a fresh pair of goggles, holding them up to the light to inspect them. “If you even _knew_ how long it takes to get our supply order in, you would understand.”

“But only Jemma Simmons would get this excited about _pens_.”

“Shut it,” she scolded him as she threw a piece of wrapping to hit him square in the chest.

He chuckled playfully, scrunching the piece of wrapping into a ball and tossing it between his hands. “Maybe I should go into the pen industry instead. I think I could afford to give you a discount if you buy in bulk.”

“Very funny.” Looking over his shoulder, her face fell once she noticed the television monitor currently tuned to a news station airing a special report on Inhumans. “Oh, would you please turn that off?”

Fitz swiftly picked up the remote from the table and clicked off the screen. “What, you don’t like listening to the constant debate of what we should define as _human_?”

“ _Not_ in the slightest.”

Giving her a curious glance, he sauntered over to her lab station where she continued to unwrap the packages. “So…I’m going to assume that you’re on the side of the resistance.”

“Quiet,” she whispered urgently, whipping her head to the side to meet his eyes. “That’s not something you can just throw out in the middle of headquarters.”

“They don’t let you have an opinion?”

“Yes, they do, but…” She placed the package she was currently opening back on her table and turned to face Fitz. “Everyone is a bit…tense right now. We don’t truly know what’s going on with the terrigenesis study, and with so many reports of unexplained acts of violence and people going _missing_ , it’s understandable why anyone would be nervous discussing the subject.”

“Personally, I think they’re just misunderstood, the Inhumans, if that’s what we’re calling them now. If the reporters would stop putting together these think pieces before even doing any research of their own, people wouldn’t be as freaked out.”

“But I think a lack of news would be even worse. People are scared of what they don’t know. Still, I wish they would take a bit more care before labeling it an epidemic. Seems a bit of a stretch at this point.”

“Yeah, they’re just trying to boost their ratings. All we can hope is there are enough people to understand it’s all nonsense.”

She nodded, but then tilted her head to the side. “What does your father think, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. He’s probably keeping his true feelings hidden, trying to protect the business.” He paused, almost as if he were unsure if he should be speaking this openly. Nevertheless, he continued. “He claims to be completely open with me on all fronts, but that has to be impossible. He’s always traveling overseas, so there are bound to be meetings he doesn’t tell me about. I just have to trust him, I guess.”

“ _Do_ you trust him…truly?” she asked hesitantly.

He looked away as he mulled over her question, reaching up to scratch the back of his head. “I think I do. I like to think he’s doing what’s best for the world, but I’m not going to lie to you. Sometimes his methods are…questionable.” Glancing down at his watch, he took in a quick breath. “Christ, is it already twelve?”

Jemma checked her own wrist. “I’m afraid so.”

“Have to get back to the office. Dad’s got meetings lined up all afternoon.”

“ _Fun_.”

“Exactly,” he agreed, rolling his eyes slightly and making his way to the lab door.

“Oh!” She rushed over to pull his cardigan off the back of her chair. “Don’t forget your—”

“Ah, thank you,” he replied, taking it from her and pulling his arms through the sleeves. “Always looking out for me, Simmons.”

Before turning around to leave, he reached his hand out to touch her shoulder, squeezing it gently and giving her a soft smile. “I’ll see you later.”

She gave him a single nod. “See you.”

Once he was out the door, she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, placing her hand on the shoulder he just touched. It felt like it was on fire, just as her heart felt like it was about to combust.

 

\-----

 

Pulling her bag off the floor of the town car, Daisy found her mirror to check if her cap hid most of her long hair and adjusted the frames on her face.  

“Are you sure this is going to work?”

She looked to her left and saw the skepticism behind Fitz’s eyes. “Well, if you keep questioning my abilities, maybe not. We have to be calm and completely professional. And stop _fidgeting_.”

“I’m already in enough trouble as it is. Don’t act surprised that breaking into the very place that got me banned from the premises is making me a bit jumpy.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“Seriously, you need to chill. Don’t worry. _No one_ is going to recognize you. You’re wearing a polo shirt and khaki’s, for crying out loud. Not exactly Versace.”

“Yes, but _your_ face wasn’t plastered all over the news for the last four months. Everyone was following the case.”

“Which is why you’re wearing this as well.” She pulled a second baseball cap from her bag and placed it securely on his head. “Honestly, you really need to reconsider that haircut. And let me do the talking. Your accent is probably more recognizable than your face.”

Daisy had to admit that even though she had only spent less than a day with this version of Fitz, he seemed to be acting more and more like the Fitz she knew in the real world. Except, maybe the less field experienced Fitz she knew from the _bus_ was a better comparison. She figured it was their search for Jemma that brought about this change, as she always brought out the best of him, or at least his true personality, in the real world.

Fitz’s driver dropped them off one street over from the headquarters’ entrance, and together they walked side by side, keeping their heads down as they made their way up the steps. Once they were inside, they made their way to the visitors’ entrance and successfully made it past the security checkpoint, using fabricated documentation and IDs Daisy created the night before in Fitz’s office. After making it past the first hurdle, Fitz led the way to the lab, clearly the more frequent visitor. When they turned the last corner, they found a rather large and intimidating security guard standing watch outside the lab.

Daisy stepped forward in front of Fitz, taking the lead. “Good morning. We’re part of inspection team seven, assigned to this floor for the day. We’re checking to make sure the labs are all up to code. Here are our clearances.” She handed him her tablet displaying their rather convincing credentials.

The guard took the tablet from her, but narrowed his eyes. “Well, this lab is still under construction.”

“We’re aware. But our orders were to inspect _every_ lab on this floor, regardless of its status, so if you will excuse us, we should really be on our way. We still have a lot to get to in one day.”

The guard returned his eyes to the tablet, swiping through the documents. After looking to his left and right, he clicked the lock button on the tablet and handed it back to Daisy. “Everything checks out. You’re good to go.”

“Great,” she replied, nodding politely.

After the guard swiped his card to let them through, they moved down the hallway that led to the lab entrance, walking briskly.

Fitz adjusted his cap. “Now we just pray that Hydra’s renovation plans are consistent in being relatively _slow_ in progress, so hopefully there will still be some remnants of the blast to inspect.”

But Daisy was already ahead of him and looking through the lab door’s window. “Fitz.”

“I don’t know why you keep calling me Fitz—Oh, wow.”

Catching up to Daisy, he stopped to stare through the window. He pushed the door open slowly and took a few hesitant steps inside. It was renovated, alright, a near pristine lab with almost every tech modification imaginable. It was as if the designer decided to take every piece of tech in existence, without a care about how the biochemists and engineers would actually use the lab. In other words, it was a cluttered mess.

Fitz took a few steps forward, his hands forming fists at his sides. “It’s…so much different.”

Daisy followed behind him cautiously. “Nothing like the old lab?”

“Not even close,” he whispered, shaking his head slowly.

At once, his quiet demeanor changed, and he slammed his hand against the counter of one of the lab tables, and then knocked a bin of office supplies noisily to the ground.

The sound caused Daisy to flinch. “Hey, _watch_ it.”

Spinning around to avoid her eyes, he covered his own with his hand. “Sorry. I just…”

She didn’t push him to explain himself, knowing he was in a fragile state. It was too familiar, the anguish behind his eyes. It was nearly identical to what she saw in the real Fitz’s eyes when he thought he lost Jemma to the monolith. But this Fitz didn’t seem to have the same fire brewing within him, that hope that kept him searching for her. This Fitz just looked defeated.

After taking in a shuddering breath, he finally turned to face Daisy. “She loved that lab, designed it according to her specifications. Now, it's...gone.”

Daisy stepped forward, wanting to comfort him in some way, but she restrained herself. They weren’t close in this world, and she didn’t want to freak him out, but all she wanted to do pull him into an embrace like the real Fitz did during a time when she felt like her own world was falling apart.

She watched him as he sunk heavily into a lab chair and covered his face with his hand, so she pulled up one for herself and leaned towards him. “What was she like? In the lab?”

Exhaling slowly, he lowered his hand. “She would come in here every morning, and was always the first one in the lab. She had a certain way of doing things, but people respected her because she was so brilliant. When she became head of the science division, she was so thrilled, making plans for modifications, sending in requests for additional equipment. It was her entire life. I was…I was _lucky_ she let me into her world. She could have told me to leave whenever she wanted.” He paused to give her a soft smile. “Not that I wanted her to,” he mumbled. “I mean, I figured it was gone due to the explosion, but this…I didn’t expect _this_ so soon. It’s like they don’t even care that she’s gone.”

“You care.”

“Of course, I do. She was different, you know, from the other scientists. You must have known. You knew her. She never got caught up in all of it, the rankings or the politics of Hydra. She just wanted to discover new things, see the world a bit differently. It’s why she was so fascinating. It’s why I…” he trailed off, bringing his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“It’s why you what? Fitz?”

“Would you stop _calling_ me that?” he nearly shouted.

“Your name?”

“No…I mean…she was…” He paused to take a deep breath. “She was the only person that called me that. Said Dr. Fitz sounded too formal, but she liked Fitz better than Leopold, so it stuck.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

He shook his head to wave off her apology, but suddenly looked up at her with a curious expression. “Did she...did she talk about me?”

The corner of her lip curled up slightly. “All the time.” Pausing, she scooted her chair closer so she could take hold of his forearm. “You know, it’s really easy to form an opinion of someone if you just see their face on the TV even if you don’t even know them. And I saw you, with your fancy wardrobe and your doting father. But you know what changed my opinion of you? _Jemma_.” She paused to give him a gentle smile. “She didn’t talk about LFTech or your ego. She talked about _you_ , your brilliance and how kind you were to visit her in the lab all the time. Because you didn’t have to.”

Obviously feeling the weight of her words, he closed his eyes. “This is why I didn’t want to go down this road again. It resurfaces these…”

 _Feelings_ , Daisy thought, finishing his sentence.

Shaking his head frantically, he pulled his arm free from her grip and pushed himself out of his chair and started walking toward the lab’s door. “Never mind, let’s just go. If there was something here, it’s long gone now, so it doesn’t matter.”

Daisy hurried after him. “Wait, we can’t just give up here. We can still keep searching. Maybe I can get into the private server, try to find any records related to the night of the explosion to see if anything connects.”

He stopped and reluctantly turned to her, his eyes still filled with distress, so she placed her hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently.

“Please.”

 

\-----

 

_The Framework - September 11th, 2016_

 

“It’s incredible.”

“Nah, it’s not that spectacular.”

“Fitz, you’re being modest. A device to contain explosives, regardless of their chemical origin, it’s unprecedented.”

“Yeah, well, it wouldn’t have worked without your formula. I’m still running tests, obviously, which is not the easiest thing to do, considering its purpose. But I wanted to let you have a look at the first completed model.”

Jemma looked down at the table to examine the device more closely, but she was really just trying to hide her smile. It didn’t surprise her in the slightest that he showed her his projects before anyone else, as they had established over the span of their friendship that they tend to work better together, often making breakthroughs within their research they never even dreamed about making in the past. But it didn’t stop her heart from warming at the sentiment.

Fitz leaned in closer to the device, standing just a few inches from Jemma. “But there’s still a lot of work to do, ‘cause I need to figure out a way to prevent anyone from modifying it. Could be dangerous if it gets in the wrong hands, which is why you’re the only other person who knows about it, or knows the access code to its safe. We wouldn’t want those useless lab techs getting their hands on it, now, would we?”

“True. I’ll keep it safe. I promise.”

“Speaking of your lab techs, that reminds me...” He rummaged into his pocket and pulled out something small, keeping it hidden in his hand and waiting for her full attention before he continued.

She turned to face him and stared at his hand, waiting impatiently. “Well, go on, then.”

A large smile spread across his face. “Happy Birthday,” he said happily as he turned his palm up to reveal a small origami figure - in the shape of a monkey.

Jemma’s eyes widened. “What?”

His eyes suddenly filled with panic. “It’s today, right? I mean, I thought I had it correct, but you never know.”

She waved her hand in front of his face. “No, yeah. It is, but how did you know?”

“We’ve known ever other for a few years now, Simmons. You’d think I’d know by now. Also, it’s not particularly difficult to read the basic file of a Hydra scientist when you provide all their tech...Anyway, I uhhh...I got you, well, I _made_ you this.”

Taking it carefully between her fingers, she gazed at it thoughtfully, biting her bottom lip through her smile. “Is it a monkey?”

“Yeah,” he answered, he eyes suddenly lighting up. “Well, we talked about how monkeys would be more efficient than your human lab techs, but as that’s against building codes, this will have to do.”

She lifted her eyes from the figure to give him an astonished expression. “You made this?”

“Yeah,” he replied with a shrug. “It’s just a simple pattern. Anyone could have followed the instructions.”

“No, no. It’s...it’s lovely.”

“Good. I’m...I’m glad you like it.”

Balancing it carefully on her palm, she moved to her lab station and placed it next to her penholder, positioning it so it looked like it was trying to climb up the side. “I think he deserves a name.”

“Henry.”

“Ah, _Henry_. Perfect. Well, Henry, I think this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship.”

They spent the next hour discussing her previous birthdays as a young girl, how her mum always took her to a bakeshop in Sheffield for a special treat, and how her dad liked to take her star gazing if the weather permitted. As she giggled through the end of her story of a birthday cake disaster, he suddenly changed the subject. “Is this the only lab you’ve ever worked in?”

She frowned slightly, surprised by his question. “I mean, I moved around a bit when I first arrived at Hydra, but I’ve been in this particular one most of my time.”

He nodded his head, but leaned heavily into her lab station, clearly not finished with his train of thought. “Would you ever consider...working outside of Hydra…in the private sector?”

Pursing her lips, she shook her head. “I never thought about it. And I never had the opportunity.”

She was lying, of course. She _had_ thought about it, more times than she would care to admit. For a split second, she allowed herself to picture it again in her head. A lab built for two, with specific modifications to meet their needs, and without the distractions of Hydra’s lab techs and their never-ending lists of stupid questions. It was a silly fantasy, she knew, and she would be giving up the entire science division if she decided to leave, which meant someone of far lesser talents would have to take over, and she didn’t want to think about the disaster that would occur from such a change. But still, she couldn’t help but wonder.

A small part of her hoped he would elaborate, but she watched as he looked down at his feet, seeming to have already moved on from the idea.

He let out a short breath. “Yeah, maybe this suits you. This lab, a stable job.”

“I wouldn’t call it stable. They just sacked my last tech after a security incident. They’re always so paranoid.”

“Maybe you could start your own lab,” he suggested through a slight shrug. “Study whatever you wanted, travel more.”

She raised her eyebrows. “ _That_ would be the dream. But alas, I do need a steady _income_.”

His face fell. “Right, sorry,” he mumbled, bringing his hand up to scratch his jawline.

She could tell he was a bit embarrassed, forgetting how easy it was to not worry about money, considering his quite extravagant income. Not wanting to drag the conversation any further, she changed the subject.  “So, you have that gala today. Are you going to have to wear a tux like a proper gentleman?”

He let out a slight laugh. “I suppose. Olivia probably already has something picked out. She likes to… _match_.”

“Of course she does.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he stared at her amusingly. “What does that mean?”

“Oh, I don’t know. She’s just…” She let her head fall into her hands, petrified by her sudden blunt comment.

He nudged her forearm in encouragement, a slight smile creeping on his face. “Go on. You can say it.”

“She’s just so _pristine_ ,” she exclaimed, throwing up her hands a bit. “I’ve never seen a woman so put together in my entire life. It’s a bit disturbing sometimes, to be honest.”

When he didn’t respond, her face fell. “Oh, god. Was that completely horrible of me to say?”

“No! No…I mean, you’re right. She uh…she’s something, that’s for sure.”

Now feeling a bit embarrassed herself, she returned to the device, inspecting it carefully, but he followed her movements, naturally, and leaned against the table.

“You should come...to the gala, I mean.”

“What?”

“I can get you a ticket. You should really be there. A lot of scientists would probably love to meet you. I think Dr. Holden Radcliffe and his wife Agnes might even make an appearance. Who knows, though, as I’ve heard they tend to be all over the map these days.”

When she didn’t respond immediately, too taken aback by his suggestion, he pulled his hand up to wipe his eyes. “Right, that was a stupid idea. You probably already have plans for your birthday.”

She reached for his arm to pull his hand down, wanting to look him in the eye. “ _No_ , it’s not a...stupid idea. But you’re right. I do have... _plans_. Maybe another time, though.”

Pulling in his lips, he nodded through a slight sigh. “Yeah, another time.” As he looked down at her hand still gripping his forearm, she couldn’t help but notice his slightly disappointed expression, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

 

\-----

 

Closing the journal shut, Jemma flung it forcefully across the room, nearly hitting the kettle on the kitchen counter. Even though it wasn’t real, and she was completely smitten by Framework Fitz’s birthday present, she had never felt so aggravated in her life, reading about how the Framework FitzSimmons were nearly, if not _more_ stubborn about their feelings than their real life counterparts. _She should have gone to that damn gala._

But she really couldn’t blame them. It seemed to take only a few months for this Jemma to realize her feelings for Fitz, which was fast considering it took herself nearly ten _years_ to come to the conclusion in the real world. And this Fitz was engaged, technically. Although, it didn’t seem to be his idea, and he didn’t seem too thrilled about it.

It was also frustrating to know that even in an artificial world, they still couldn’t be completely happy. That even without the tragedies they experienced in the real world, they still seemed to be missing something in their lives – passion, thrill. _Love_.

Bringing her hands up to cover her face, she stretched out on the sofa. When she entered the Framework, she expected to encounter a world similar to her own, but with much less pain and tragedy. Instead, she found this world a painful reminder of everything holding her and Fitz back from the rest of their lives. Reading about this FitzSimmons relationship and learning about all the moments they took for granted, she found herself thinking about all the chances she and Fitz didn’t take in the real world – their trip to the Seychelles, moving into the apartment Daisy bought for them. She could see their future together, of course, but it seemed like every time they tried to make plans, they were always pushed to the side by something more pressing. And it wasn’t as if she thought vacations and moving into a private apartment were more important the lives of her friends, but sometimes, it felt like they were running out of time.

Groaning and wiping a few stray tears she didn’t realize had fallen, she curled on her side, trying to wish away her heightened emotions. She was confident in their plan, knowing Daisy was on the case, but as their time in the Framework seemed to be whisking away, she was losing focus and wanted to talk to the only person in the world that helped her see things clearly.

Needing a break from the journal entries, she pulled out the files to reexamine them, hoping they would bring her a bit of clarity.

\-----

 

Daisy and Fitz sat in the backseat of his town car, now back in their everyday attire. She managed to convince him to keep going with the investigation, but her current plan was a bit thin, so she hoped Jemma would pull through with a bit of direction.

“You said we need access to their private server.”

Daisy sighed. “Yeah, but I’m only a level six, so I don’t have access to the encrypted case files, security footage, that sort of thing.”

“But from your tone, I’m assuming you have a plan.”

“Well, _part_ of a plan,” she replied through a half shrug. “I have a way in, but I just need this flash drive plugged into one of the main computers connected to the server. The problem is I don’t have access to one of those.”

Fitz brought his hand up to his chin. “The main computers...you mean the ones manned by the control center near the front desk?”

“Yeah, those. You can’t just waltz in and log on. You have to have a clearance for that.”

A beat passed, but then he suddenly snatched the flash drive from her hand and opened the car door. “You won’t need a clearance. I have a better idea.”

“What do you mean...hey, wait! What are you—”

“Give me two minutes,” he shouted before slamming the door shut.

Shifting closer to the window, she watched him climb the stairs two at a time up to the headquarters main entrance. “What in the world…”

But he wasn’t lying, because nearly two minutes later, he returned to the car with a subtle grin on his face.

“It’s done.”

“What did you do?” she asked, eyeing him through her disbelief.

“I just told the woman at the desk I needed an additional copy of their most recent supply order.”

“And she believed you?”

“Yeah. I have a certain way of...” he trailed off, waving his hand in front of his face. “How do I say this…”

Daisy gave him a stern look. “You flirted your way into the system.”

“Yeah, basically,” he admitted.

Daisy shook her head. “Unbelievable.”

“Well, let’s get going before she realizes that was completely unnecessary. Back to the office, please,” he said loudly to his driver, and the car moved back out into the street.

Once they arrived at the LFTech tower, they headed inside, Fitz waving the security guard off Daisy so they could keep moving. But instead of heading to the main elevator, Fitz motioned for Daisy to follow him down a side hallway where they reached a private elevator. He pressed his thumbprint against the pin pad and gestured for her to step inside. “After you.”

“This isn’t the part where you kill me, right?” She was about to chuckle, but she restrained herself once she saw his face, clearly not amused. “Sorry, bad joke.”

Daisy expected the elevator to take them to the top floor of the tower, but instead, it moved down, passing through three stories before coming to a halt. Once the elevator doors opened, Fitz gestured her to follow him down a narrow, dimly lit walkway until they reached the end of the hall. He opened the door and let her enter first.

Daisy walked through, unsure what to expect. “Is this your…”

“My lab? Yeah, this is it. It’s not much, but I don’t need anything fancy. I like it ‘cause it’s quiet. And _hidden_. I rarely allow visitors.”

Daisy walked forward, but had to stop to grab onto one of the lab tables to center herself, as the sight before her was almost too eerie to take in. It looked astoundingly like the lab from the bus, with a few changes here and there, but for the most part, it was a near identical picture. The holotable. A display of weapon prototypes, one with an uncanny resemblance to the original night-night gun model. But she did notice an absence of some subtle touches that distinguished the bus lab from any other. _Jemma’s_ touches.

“Did you bring her here?”

Fitz looked down at his feet. “I wanted to. I never got the chance.” Shaking his head, seemingly trying to rid himself of his thoughts, he removed his suit jacket and gestured toward a station with a clean workspace. “You can set up here if you like.”

Daisy nodded and began setting up her laptop, logging in and then loading her encryption software.

Leaning over her shoulder to see her screen, Fitz narrowed his eyes. “And you can do all that from your laptop?”

“Yeah, just give me one second…” She typed in her access code and found the connection created by the flash drive Fitz successfully handed off that afternoon. “Okay. I’m in.”

“Bloody hell,” he murmured.

Daisy shrugged. “Luckily, Hydra still has some holes in their security they need to fix.”

“Apparently.”

Moving the laptop away from her a bit, she leaned back in her chair. “Okay, this is going to take awhile while it encrypts the files.”

“No worries.” He moved over to a small refrigerator, pulling out a beer for himself. “Do you want anything?”

“A beer would be nice.”

As they waited, they sat in silence, mindlessly watching a news report about the current Inhuman situation. The total reported missing or confirmed dead Inhumans was at a staggering number, and panic seemed to be spreading throughout the city. She tried her best not to react to the report, knowing this wasn’t actually happening. But it didn’t help knowing there were still people in the real world that would desire this outcome. A world without Inhumans. It sent a chill down her spine.

Seeming to notice her discomfort, he muted the screen. “We don’t have to watch this.”

She shook her head. “Sorry, it…kind of makes my skin crawl.”

“You don’t have to explain. I wish I could help them. I just don’t know how.”

“Could you talk to your father? He seems to have quite the influence.”

His eyes widened slightly. “That…wouldn’t be a good idea.”

She nodded, figuring he didn’t want to elaborate, so she glanced at her laptop screen. “Hey, we’re in.”

“Excellent,” he replied as he got up to join her behind the laptop.

“Let’s check her visitation records first, see if anything looks suspicious.”

Clicking through a few screens, she started scrolling through the visitation records for Jemma’s lab as Fitz looked on over her shoulder. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, as Jemma seemed to arrive and leave the lab at nearly the same time every day, so the files all looked identical.

“Wait, go back.”

She scrolled back up to the file he was pointing at – the one from the night of the explosion.

“Why is that one look different from the rest?”

“Hold on, let me find the source.” She clicked on the file, which brought up a more detailed page. “It says it was entered into the system at 9:14 pm.”

“Okay, yeah. That’s the time she arrived at the lab.”

Daisy looked closer, noticing something odd about the file. “But it didn’t come from Hydra’s system. It came from an outside location.”

“What the hell?” he murmured as he furrowed his brow. “How can it say that she entered the lab, but her ID wasn’t swiped at the lab terminal?”

“Well, it _was_ swiped at the lab terminal, but the record itself was entered manually. So, it’s not the swiping that’s been messed with, but the actual visitation record.”

Fitz stepped back from the screen. “Well, that’s not normal.”

“Yeah, I don’t know. We’ll need to check the security feed. Did they show the footage in court?”

“No, they didn’t want to upset her family, so I never saw it. They probably buried it, for all I know.”

“We’ll see about that,” she replied, narrowing her eyes at her screen as she began her search. But she stopped herself and turned toward Fitz as a thought entered her mind. “If I find it…the footage…do you want me to look at it first?”

She watched as understanding filled his eyes, and he nodded. “That’s probably a good idea.”

“Alright, let’s see what we have. November 5th…2016.” With a few more clicks, she located the file, but made sure to position her screen out of his line of sight. Pressing play, her screen filled with footage of the lab, or what Daisy assumed was the lab as it was a completely different sight from the renovated one she visited with Fitz that morning. Looking closer, she suddenly recognized it as Jemma’s, the color-coded filing system, the neatly organized chemicals chamber. And if she had any more doubts that it was Jemma’s lab, out of the corner of the screen walked the scientist herself, her hair in a loose ponytail, her lab coat fitted snugly around her small frame. She watched her carefully as she moved about the lab, moving flasks from her workspace into a bin on the side of her station and wiping the surface clean. But then the screen cut to black before anything remotely resembling an explosion appeared.

Once the feed stopped playing, Daisy looked up to meet Fitz’s waiting eyes. “Well, there’s nothing to really see. It cuts out before the explosion. It just shows her moving around the lab before it goes black.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Let me see it.”

She pulled up the feed again and fast-forwarded it to the part just before it cut to black, playing it a few times over for him to watch.

He shook his head in disbelief. “Why would it…” But suddenly, he stopped moving his head, bringing his hand up to cover his mouth. “No…”

“What?” Daisy asked, turning her head to give him a concerned look.

“What if she was…”

Daisy eyed him carefully. “What are you thinking?”

He shook his head before finishing his thought. “What if she was killed, but not in the lab? Someone made it look like an accident, but it wasn’t. Oh god.” Bringing his hand up behind his head, he began turning around himself.

Daisy got up from her chair as he began to spiral. “Fitz, calm down. We don’t know that for sure.”

“But it’s all adding up to that, right? Someone planted her DNA there, blew up the lab, messed with her visitation records, and deleted the security footage, but for what? She didn’t hurt anyone. Why would someone want her dead?”

“I don’t think that’s what happened.”

“So, you’re just going to assume the best?” he asked, his voice increasing in volume. “That she’s out there somewhere and I should keep my hopes up? Believe me, I’ve kept my hopes up in the past. It doesn’t end well.”

Daisy stepped forward with her hands raised in an attempt to calm him. “I just think we should keep looking to see what else we can find.”

“Now you’re starting to sound like some conspiracy theorist.”

“Me? You’re the one who thinks she was murdered and the explosion was a cover up.”

“I don’t know what to think anymore.” Bringing his hand up to wipe his face, he let out a shuddering breath. “Why are we doing this…truly? I mean, I barely _know_ you, and you come out of nowhere wanting to go down this road, and for what?”

Daisy swallowed the lump forming in her throat. “Because she deserves more than Hydra’s pathetic investigation.”

“I just…I don’t like what we’re finding and I don’t know if I want to do this anymore.” At this, he turned around and marched toward the lab’s exit.

“Fitz, wait—”

“I’m just getting some air,” he cut her off, pulling the door open and slamming it behind him.

**\-----**

_The Framework - November 4 th, 2016_

 

Jemma tried her best to keep her hands steady, but her anguish was causing her to lose focus. It was much later than usual, but she knew Fitz wanted to check on the device before she left for the day, so she busied herself by getting a head start on her samples for the next day. She didn’t look up from her work when she heard his frantic footsteps.

“Hey, sorry I’m late, I had to—”

“I saw the report.” She paused for a moment before looking up to meet his confused expression.

“Pardon?”

“LFTech making arrangements to move into the Inhuman eradication program,” she replied, emphasizing each word carefully, tears already brimming in her eyes.

Fitz swallowed hard. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“Really? Because the last I heard, you were against this, hunting them down, making them out as the enemy, but now you’re just going to join in? You’re just like the rest of them.”

“Jemma, if you could just let me explain…” he said while hesitantly taking hold of her wrist as she moved to the other side of her lab table.

“Explain what?” she exclaimed, pulling her hand away. “That you’ve been lying to me this whole time? You don’t care about them, do you? It’s just some business deal to you.”

“Jemma, I do care about them. It’s not that simple, okay? We’re just consulting on tech, that’s all. And I didn’t sign the order—”

“Of course, you did—”

“My _father_ did.”

She froze, unable to form a response. It did make sense, his father taking extra trips overseas over the past few months, and Fitz feeling like he was out of the loop. But it still didn’t soften the blow that his name and company would forever be attached to such a horrendous program.

She watched him carefully as he began to pace, his breathing becoming jagged.

“He threatened to take away everything,” he continued, throwing a hand up weakly. “But maybe now that we’re involved, we can get control of the situation.”

“And do what? Shut the whole program down? Because your father seemed pretty pleased about the new arrangement during the press conference.”

“So what, I’m just supposed to give everything up, just like that?”

“I don’t know. You can fight back, and say you don’t want to be involved. Or better yet, say that _no one_ should be involved because the program is going to kill innocent people. Someone should be talking about how wrong this is.”

“Why not you?”

She gave him a look of utter disbelief. “Are you serious? I’m just a scientist, Fitz, a _Hydra_ scientist, so why would anyone listen to anything I have to say?” Trying to return her focus back to her work, she picked up a flask and placed her goggles back on her face. But Fitz wouldn’t let her back out of the conversation that easily as he approached her desk, hovering over her workspace.

“They would listen to you because you’re smart and you see the world differently than everyone else, plus you understand the Inhuman DNA better than anyone I know.”

“So you expect me to say something? And risk my life in the process? Hydra will find a way to shut me up real quick.”

“But that’s what you want me to do, right? Stand up there by myself, tell the world that Inhumans are just people like everyone else. What makes me doing it any different than you?”

“I _would_ do it. I just don’t want to do it _alone_ —”

The sound of glass breaking stunned her into silence as she looked down at the broken flask in her hand. She was never one to argue in the lab, especially with Fitz, but this conversation was unsettling, and she didn’t realize how forcefully she was holding the flask. She turned her palm up to see a slight gash dripping blood down her wrist.

Fitz stepped closer immediately. “Here, let me—”

“ _Don’t_." She held up her unharmed hand in front of his chest. "I’m fine.”

“Jemma, you’re bleeding. Please, just let me help you.”

She looked at him and saw his pleading eyes. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Reluctantly, she let out a deep sigh. “Fine.”

Placing his hand on the small of her back, he guided her over to one of the lab sinks, and then rummaged through the cabinets in search of a first aid kit. Upon finding a small red pack, he took hold of her hand gently to inspect the damage. “It’s not serious, doesn’t need any stitches. Your hands are freezing, though. Are they always this cold?”

She shrugged. “I suppose.”

He turned on the water and placed her hand under the stream, washing away the excess blood. Pulling out a pack of gauze, he carefully covered her cut and used tape to keep it in place. Even after all their time spent together, this was the closest they’d ever been physically, him just inches away from her face. As she watched him work, she noticed how he furrowed his brows together as he concentrated, working carefully not to hurt her more than she already was. When he finished, neither of them made any movement to separate. Instead, they just stayed there, standing in such close proximity that if she looked up, their foreheads would touch.

“Believe me. I want to help them,” he whispered so close to her that she could feel his breath on her face. “I just don’t know what to do.” He was still cradling her hand between his, stroking his thumb against her knuckles in soothing motions.

She was surprised to hear him bring up the subject again, but she still wouldn’t look at him and didn’t bother to move the stray hair that fell in front of her face.

“Jemma.” He reached his hand up to sweep the hair behind her ear. Suddenly, she felt caught, her eyes and cheeks burning from fury over the last few minutes, but also from frustration. He was being so kind, and thoughtful, and this was when she started to let her feelings get the better of her.

As her eyes began to mist over, he continued to move his thumb back and forth against her hand, and placed his other high on her shoulder, his fingers nearly cradling the back of her neck. The contact made her shiver, and against her will, a small tear escaped her eyelid and traveled down her cheek. He noticed, of course, so he removed his hand from shoulder to try and catch it with his finger.

“Ah, the man of the hour.”

The sound of his father’s voice made them both jump, Fitz immediately releasing her hand and Jemma taking a few quick steps backwards to create some distance between them. Trying to look as casual as possible, she moved to the sink to clean up the medical supplies, wiping her eyes furiously on her sleeve, while Fitz stepped forward to meet his father half way.

The man looked down at his watch and tapped it with his index finger. “It’s almost six. We should have been on our way a half hour ago.”

“Sorry, I got…distracted,” Fitz muttered, waving his hand in the air.

“And who’s this?” his father asked, looking over his son’s shoulder.

“Uh..this is Jem..uh- _Dr._ Simmons. She’s the head of the science division.”

Walking over to meet them, Jemma dried her hands on a paper towel and outstretched her un-bandaged one for the man to shake. “Pleasure to meet you, sir.”

“I believe the pleasure is all mine. Head of the science division, now, that sounds impressive. You seem rather young to be in that position.”

“I started my studies early. Skipped ahead a bit.”

“I see.” He paused to smile fondly at her, but it only sent a chill through her entire being. She’d seen his face before through press appearances, but never in person. Fitz was a spitting image of the man, but without the genuine kindness and caring nature. Instead, he polite demeanor seemed rehearsed. _Artificial_. And the knowledge of his role in the current Inhuman situation only made her loathe him even more.

When she didn’t continue the conversation, the man looked as his watch again. “Well, it was nice meeting you Miss Simmons, but we really have to be going. Our guests await us.”

Turning toward the exit, the man walked off, his posture nearly perfect, but Fitz didn’t follow. Instead, he approached Jemma, his eyes lowered as he reached for her wrist.

“Are you okay?

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.”

“You should go home. I don’t want you in here alone, not with you all emotional like this—”

“ _Leopold.”_

Fitz closed his eyes, almost painfully, at the sound of his father’s tone. Sensing his distress, Jemma slid her wrist from his grip in order to take hold of his hand, squeezing it firmly. Ducking her head to meet his gaze, Jemma gave him a concerned look, asking an unspoken question with her eyes. _Are **you** okay?_

He gave her a curt nod, lowering his eyes to the ground, but when she stepped closer, squeezing his hand again, he raised his eyes to her – a wordless plea behind them.

She saw it. For a split second, she saw a look in his eyes that seemed to beg for her help. That the last thing he wanted was to spend an evening with this man, to be the face of this company, _to walk out that door._

Reluctantly, and not wanting to keep his father waiting any longer, they pulled apart, and Fitz silently moved toward the door. As she watched them leave, Fitz visibly slouching more than usual, she swallowed a lump in her throat. Once they were out of sight, she let out a heavy breath and spun around herself, her eyes now brimming with fresh tears.

She was at the end of her rope, and wanted a way out.

Out of this organization.

Out of this job that required her to look the other way even when the horrendous treatment of the Inhumans made her stomach churn.

But more than anything, she wanted out of this game they played with each other, this relentless give and take that only left her feeling empty when she left the lab everyday. _Alone_. She knew it couldn’t lead to anything, this relationship that seemed more than just simple acquaintances, more than just friendship. But she couldn’t help the way she felt when he gazed at her a certain way, when he invaded her space, or when he treated her with such kindness. And before, she wouldn’t dare think about his feelings, or if he thought of her more than just a friendly scientist he admired. But now, remembering the way his eyes seemed to stare into her soul as if she were the only person in the universe, the smallest part of her wondered if he felt the same way.

As her emotions nearly took her over the edge, she stopped her turning to suddenly stare at the safe at the far wall of the lab. Walking briskly toward it, she punched in the combination and opened the small door, gazing inside at the contents. The small device sat in its protective casing, untouched since her last inspection with Fitz. Taking it carefully from the safe, she moved to place it on her lab table and stepped back, staring at it intently as the gears started to turn inside her head.

Suddenly, her mind began to race, and she got to work.


	4. Chapter 4

The silence that filled the lab was deafening. Daisy expected Fitz to be on the edge through this entire process, so she wasn’t surprised by his breakdown. Still, it wasn’t helping her confidence as they only had a day and a half left in the Framework to convince him it wasn’t real, and their odds were looking thin. Needing some clarity and the sound of a familiar voice, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed the prerecorded number.

Jemma answered on the second ring. “Daisy?”

“Hey, how’s it going?”

“I’m alright, still trying to decipher the rest of her plan. I understand some of it, but it still feels like a large part is missing. Have you had any luck yourself?”

“I’m going through Hydra’s encrypted files, and everything seems to be tampered with. It must be her own doing, but I don’t know how. But…”

“What is it?”

Daisy covered her face with her hand. “I don’t know Jemma. I think he’s starting to lose it.”

“Oh, Fitz.”

“He thinks you were murdered, or something completely off base, so I don’t know what he’s going to do at this point.”

“He has to see the device. I went over her notes again, and I think she must have modified it in some way, something only he would understand. It’s the only way he’s going to believe that she’s alive.”

Daisy let out an exasperated breath. “But it’s nearly impossible to get our hands on it. The case file said it’s in Hydra’s underground vault.”

“Yeah…You’re probably right.”

Daisy waited for her friend to continue, but was only met with silence and the faint sound of a defeated sigh. “Jemma?”

“No, I’m fine. I…” The sound of her voice breaking made Daisy’s heart sink. “I know you’re doing everything you can. I just don’t know if this is going to work anymore.”

“Jemma, it’s going to work. I can see it in his eyes. He knows there’s more to this than a simple accident. Everything we’ve found so far in Hydra’s server points to her plan. He just needs to find the last piece to the puzzle, and I think I can convince him to keep going.” She was met with more silence and a few sniffles on the other line. “Hey, listen to me. This is going to work. Trust me. And trust Fitz. You guys are meant to find each other.”

“Okay,” Jemma replied after exhaling deeply.

“I’ll call you if anything changes. Hang in there, okay?”

“I will, and good luck.”

“Bye, Jemma.”

A few moments later, Fitz returned to the lab, his necktie in his hand and his eyes red. Daisy didn’t greet him when he entered, unsure if he wanted to talk, but he crossed the lab and pulled up a chair in front of her.

“I’m sorry I shouted at you.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I just…”

“You don’t have to explain. I know it’s a lot to take in in such a short amount of time. But before you say anything else, can you just listen to me for a moment?”

He swallowed hard, but nodded, urging her to continue.

Daisy scooted to the edge of her chair. “We’ve gotten this far. We know there are too many holes in this case. So I’m going to remind you again why we’re doing this. No matter what we find, we’re doing this for _her_. To find closure for _her_. Because she deserves so much more than this – that horribly renovated lab, a pathetic gravestone, and just another name on the wall of the fallen. She deserves to be remembered. And I know a part of you wants to forget about her. It’s easier that way, right? But you can’t. Because she loved you. And you loved her.” She heard him take in a quick breath at her words, but she continued. “Neither of you may have said it out loud, but I can see it. From the way you talk about her, from the way you say her _name_ , I know you could never forget about her.”

He gripped the arm of his chair forcefully, seemingly in an attempt to control his emotions, and looked down at his lap before she could see his expression. But she knew her speech was working.

She reached between them to take hold of his wrist. “So let’s keep going, because letting this go isn’t going to bring you any peace.” Daisy watched as his eyes misted over, and fought the urge once again to pull him into an embrace. It was painful to watch him fall apart like this, but she knew this was the only way to convince him he to keep going, the only way to get the real Fitz back.

Nodding his head slowly, he wiped his eyes with his hand before meeting Daisy’s. “She understood me…in a way I can’t explain. It’s like she knew who I really was before I even knew myself. It’s what got me up in the morning, honestly – knowing that even if my day was spent negotiating or shaking hands with countless donors or businessmen I didn’t even care about, at least for a few hours, I got to work with her, spend time with her.” He suddenly cracked a smile. “It was probably why I was so bitter in the afternoons,” he added with a chuckle.

Daisy matched his smile as she nodded in understanding.

Fitz returned his eyes to his lap. “No one could ever compare to her. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now that she’s gone. And I think Olivia suspects I’m going to end things.”

“What’s that relationship like, anyway?”

He shrugged. “It was never my idea. She just agreed to it because her family made such a large donation to the company when we were first starting out. But I could never love her, and she knows that. I’m just trying to find the best way to break it to her. And my dad.”

“My advice – tell her sooner rather than later. She’s still a human being.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Taking a deep breath, he sat up straighter in his chair. “Maybe…we should check through the security feed again to see if there’s anything we missed.”

“It’s worth a shot.”

Pleased to have in on board again, she pulled open her laptop and loaded the video feed of Jemma in the lab, positioning the screen for Fitz to see. After watching the clip several times through, Daisy not noticing anything out of the ordinary, Fitz suddenly placed his hand on her shoulder. “Wait, that’s…go back. Look at her hand.”

Daisy zoomed in on the footage and squinted at the screen. “Is that blood under a bandage?”

“Yeah, because,” he replied while pointing at the screen, “ _that’s_ not footage from the night of the explosion. That’s from the day _before_. She hurt her hand, and I helped clean it.”

“Good lord. But wouldn’t Hydra notice if it’s the same footage as the day before?”

“Probably. Unless…”

Daisy understood him before he finished his thought, and immediately went back to the list of files, looking for the footage from the day before the explosion, but when she clicked on the file, a separate screen popped up.

FILE CORRUPTED

“It’s gone.”

“Bloody hell.”

“So, someone replaced the feed for November 5th, and then _deleted_ the original file from the 4 th.”

“That’s… _wow_.”

Daisy nodded her head in agreement, and then turned to meet Fitz’s eyes. “I had one more thought.”

“Go on.”

“The device is locked in the Hydra vault, correct?”

“Yeah.”

“I figured it would be impossible to get our hands on it, but at this point, it might be our last shot at figuring out this mystery.”

“True. And you managed to get us in undercover before without any problems, so this shouldn’t be much different.”

“The problem is…even if we make it into the vault, how are we supposed to know where it is? It’s not like they keep the vault boxes labeled on the outside… _wait_.”

“What are you thinking?”

Turning back to her screen, Daisy typed furiously in search of a new file. “If both the visitation record and the security footage were altered, maybe the _vault_ record was altered as well. The system doesn’t organize what’s inside each box by date, because that would make it too easy to track things down. But we can still see the vault box _names_.”

Fitz nodded his head, clarity in his eyes. “Okay, yeah. Let’s pull it up.”

Once she found the right vault, she pulled up the list of boxes and began scrolling. “Stop me if you see anything.”

He leaned in and narrowed his eyes. “Hang on. Go back up. Stop right.... _there_.” He pointed at a particular file name that didn’t seem any different to Daisy – it was just a random letter and number combination. But she could hear Fitz take in a sudden breath, and she knew he was onto something. Leaning forward herself, she looked closely at the file name he identified.   

6H1E5N1R1Y

“That’s it.”

“You’re sure?”

He bit his bottom lip as he nodded his head. “Positive. It would be too much of a coincidence. That’s…” he paused to point at the screen, “that’s the _biggest_ sign we’ve gotten so far.” Placing his hands on his hips, he took in a deep breath as his lip curled into a smile.

Daisy didn’t know what the vault name meant, but whatever it was, it seemed to light a fire in Fitz that suddenly made him game for anything. Taking advantage of his new attitude, Daisy stood up and placed her hands on his shoulders. “Okay, so, we’re doing this, right? You’re on board? Because there’s no going back after this.”

He hesitated for a moment, and Daisy watched as he processed this new information. But finally, shrugging his shoulders, he let out a small chuckle. “Yeah. We’re doing this.”

“It shouldn’t be too difficult to break into the vault, but you have to trust me.”

“I know,” he replied without hesitation. “I trust you,” he added.

Daisy gave him a satisfied grin. “Alright. Let’s go find us a device.”

 

\-----

 

Back in his town car, Daisy sifted through her bag and found her ID card to clip to her belt loop. She then pulled out a standard HYDRA field jacket and tossed it to Fitz. “Put this on. And if this is going to work, we’re going to have to move fast. I don’t know how long we can hack our way through, as I’m sure security will catch on eventually. First thing’s first…”

After pulling a tablet from her bag, she swiped through an application as Fitz looked on curiously.

“What are you—”

“There. I looped the security footage from last night’s feed to play while we’re in there. That’ll get us through the first hurdle.”

“And the next?”

“Getting past the first vault door. We’ll have to snatch someone’s ID card or find a fingerprint in order to get us through the security checkpoint.”

Fitz shook his head. “No need. I have something for that.” Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he loaded an application and faced it toward Daisy. “It scans the vicinity for fingerprints, loads them into a database, and then finds the right match.”

She furrowed her brows. “Well, _that’s_ handy.”

“I don’t have this one on the market for _obvious_ reasons.”

“Okay, whatever. Once we get inside, it will only be a matter of time before they detect a break in, so have the car ready…” she trailed off to lean forward toward the driver. “I’m sorry, what’s your name?”

“Davis.”

Daisy tried her best to hide her stunned expression.

The man turned his head to look into the back seat. “Ma’am?

“ _Sorry_. Yeah. Okay. _Davis_ , make sure you have the car running and ready to go. We’ll get out from the north side of the building. You think you can handle that?”

“I’ve got it under control.”

She turned back to Fitz. “Are you ready?”

Fitz pulled his cap down further onto his head. “As I’ll ever be.”

 

\------

 

Jemma paced back and forth through the living area as she tried to keep herself occupied. The thought of Daisy breaking into the Hydra vault with Fitz sounded like the worst idea in the world, but Daisy sounded confident that their plan would work. Still, she needed something to keep herself busy while she waited for any news, and the silence in the house wasn’t helping.

It was getting late, and with the sun setting, a slight chill traveled through the house. Rubbing her arms, she went to the closet in search of a jumper. She sifted through each hanger, not finding anything as cozy as the ones she had on the base in the real world, her own closet filled with cardigans and hoodies she shared with Fitz. But as she moved through each piece of clothing, she noticed one of the hangers was caught in between two others, so she took the bundle off the rack to fix them. As she pulled them apart, she noticed the one in the middle didn’t seem to look like the others in terms of size, so she pulled it off the hanger to try it on.

But then a sudden jolt traveled through her once she took in the familiar scent clinging to the fabric.

“ _Fitz_.”

As she brought the fabric up to her nose, the aroma sent waves of warmth through her body. It was a scent she would know anywhere, in any reality. And even if it wasn’t her Fitz, but it was as close as she was going to get.

Pulling her arms through the sleeves, she breathed him in and was surprised to identify the same familiar aftershave he wore in the real world. Naturally, the cardigan was blue, and much softer than the others. She could tell it was well loved. Moving to the bed, she pulled the cardigan closer around her frame and sunk into the mattress. It was almost too much, knowing his arms once filled these sleeves, touched his skin. But it did help the ache in her heart that yearned for her other half, no matter how or in what form. Finally feeling like she could relax from this small comfort, she placed her hand in the front pocket, and her fingers brushed against a bundle of folded papers.

Startled, she pulled the contents from the pocket and laid it out across the bed. The first thing that caught her eye was a pair of passports. Inside the first was her own picture, but with a different name. _Margaret Bennet_. She couldn’t help but smile.

But before she could even open the second, she could already predict what she would find, and her heart skipped a beat. Taking it carefully between her fingers, she folded back the front cover and sighed at the familiar face. It was Fitz, of course, but with a different haircut as Daisy had described and a name listed as Charles Wilson. But even from this small picture, her first true encounter with Framework Fitz, she could see him, _truly_ see him. That even in this constructed reality, and all its changes, he could see the kindness behind his eyes, and the same gentle soul she knew and loved.

After taking a deep breath, she moved on from the passports and pulled open one of two documents. The first was a flight itinerary, dated a few days after the explosion with a flight listed to arrive in Heathrow Airport. Jemma brought her hand up to her lips. There were going to the UK. But other than her family, what was waiting for them there? Her mind buzzed through her confusion, but once she opened the second document, her questions were soon answered. Jemma narrowed her eyes as she read the short typed note.

_Once you both get on the plane, we’ll be in contact. We’ll also inform you when the extraction team has successfully retrieved your friend. Keep your heads down, but once you cross the Atlantic, you should be safe. The team here will be awaiting your arrival._

_We look forward to working with you both during this difficult time. Your contributions to our resistance efforts will be greatly appreciated._

_Stay safe and good luck._

_BM & LH_

Jemma took in a short breath. _Bobbi. Hunter_. A resistance. And a… _friend_.

She closed her eyes and smiled. _Daisy_. Or in this case, _Skye_ , but it didn’t matter. It warmed Jemma’s heart to know that no matter what catastrophe, or _reality_ they found themselves in, Daisy would always be at her side.

Her head now spinning, she curled up on the bed, clutching her arms into her chest as she mulled over this new information. A resistance against Hydra in the UK, possibly to help the Inhumans. With Bobbi and Hunter at the head. And Skye helping her all along. It felt like a dream. But as she leaned further into the mattress, a soft crinkling sound brought her attention back to the cardigan. She originally found the documents in the right pocket, but she had neglected to check the left. Slowly, she sat up and she reached down into the second, her fingers curling around something small and lightweight. Pulling it out carefully, her breath hitched when she saw what it was. On the inside of her palm sat a little origami monkey, its ears and tail a little squished from being in the pocket, but nevertheless, just as adorable as she imagined.

“ _Henry_.”

Jemma let her tears fall freely now. In that moment, she pleaded to the bloody cosmos that this plan would work. That Fitz would find the device, make it out of the vault alive, and find the house. But not just so she could convince him the world wasn’t real and return to her real Fitz. More than anything, she wanted him to understand the depth of the love the Jemma of this world had for him. This Fitz, this wonderful and caring Fitz, deserved to know, and he deserved his escape. Even if for only a few fleeting moments before they needed to leave the Framework, she hoped she could give him that peace.

Placing the paper monkey next to her pillow, she curled up on the bed, clutching the sleeves to her chest once more, and hoped the cosmos would listen to her prayer. “Come on, Fitz. Come back to me.”

 

**\-----**

 

Using Framework Skye’s ID card, Daisy and Fitz were able to enter the building on the south side entrance away from the main security checkpoint, but it didn’t take long before they encountered the first of probably many obstacles on their way to the vault. As they rounded the last corner before making it to the stairwell that would lead them to the basement level of the building, Daisy came to a furious halt, Fitz nearly running into her as he followed closely behind.

“One guard. He’s armed, but he doesn’t look intimidating.”

“Do you think you can handle it?” Fitz asked.

Daisy narrowed her eyes, giving him a stern look.

“Right, yep. Got it. I’ll be here if you need me.”

“Hold _this_ ,” she said, handing him her tablet. “And don’t come out until I say when.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Straightening her jacket, she walked casually around the corner to meet the security officer, making sure her ID card was buried deep in her pocket. Fortunately, the man turned his head at his post and greeted her with a warm smile.

“Ah, Skye. Good to see you.”

Daisy cracked a smile of her own at her luck. _At least I’m popular here._

“ _Jeremy,_ ” she replied, glancing down at his own ID. “Hey, I need to get into the vault to check on something for an operation, but I left my ID card in my locker. Is there any way you could let me in? I won’t be long. I promise.”

The man shook his head. “Nah, I’m sorry. You know I can’t let you do that. What are you looking for anyway?”

“It’s classified,” Daisy replied through a shrug.

“Right. But I’ll be here if you just want to run back and get it real quick.”

Daisy clicked her feet together. “Sure, I’ll go...do that.” She turned around to walk away, but paused to turn back around on her heel. “Hey, Jeremy?”

“Yeah—”

His reply was cut short as her fist met his temple, knocking him out cold, his body crumbling to the ground.

Daisy shook her hand through the pain as she turned around to find Fitz looking on in shock. “Come on, this way,” she whispered urgently as she gestured him forward. Before passing the guard’s body, she knelt down to snatch his gun and ID card. “Guess we won’t need your fancy app to get in the first door.”

“That’s fine. This is faster,” he replied as he followed closely behind her.

After racing around the corner and swiping the stolen card at the pin pad, they moved quickly down the flight of stairs that led to the basement level vault. Before moving down the last hallway, Daisy used her tablet to create a diversion by setting off a security alarm on the floor above them. At once, they heard frantic footsteps as the basement level security officers left their post in search of the culprit on the next floor. Once they were out of sight, Daisy gave Fitz a single nod and they moved out quickly out of their corner to reach the main vault entrance.

Daisy turned to Fitz. “Your turn.”

Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he tapped it to load the program, and a hologram began scanning the vicinity. Once the scan was complete, he placed his phone up to the pin pad and waited as the program sifted through its database for a match.

“Please work. Please work…” Daisy muttered.

The green light appeared as the screen displayed a message - ACCESS GRANTED.

“Oh, thank God,” she said through a sigh of relief.

“I told you it would work,” Fitz mumbled as he pulled open the vault door and gestured her inside.

Upon entering the vault, they both stood taken aback by its vast size. Thousands of glowing boxes lined the wall from the floor to the high ceiling, and a small holotable stood in the center of the room. Daisy stepped forward tentatively, eyeing the holotable. “I guess you just…”

Fitz didn’t hesitate as he waved his hand over the table, and a small window popped up instructing him to type in a name. Letting out a quick breath, he positioned his fingers on the floating keyboard. “Let’s see if this works…”

He typed in the vault name carefully, and hit the center holographic button to retrieve the box. Instantly, the room lit up as the holotable scanned the wall for the correct match. After a few moments, a small box released from the wall and traveled slowly down to the holotable, landing with a small thud.

Daisy looked to Fitz. “Here goes nothing.”

Stepping forward, he placed his fingers carefully on the edge of the box and lifted it slowly to reveal a small metal device nested inside. It was no more than a foot in diameter, with small metal feet coming out on all sides. Upon her first glance, Daisy thought it looked like one of the dwarfs.

“Is that it?”

He nodded. “That would be it.” Carefully, he placed his fingers inside the box and slowly lifted the device, setting it gently on the holotable surface.

Daisy heart suddenly quickened. “Okay, I know you invented that thing, but is there still a slight chance it could explode?”

“Not sure, exactly. But I don’t really have anything to lose at this point, so…” He ran his finger underneath a particular panel of the device and it fell open in half, revealing its inner gears and wiring. “Tada.”

She let out a deep sigh. “ _Oh_. Okay.”

Fitz glanced up from his work. “You can breathe again.”

She watched him inspect the interior, trying not to hover too much, but she couldn’t help glancing at her watch or the security monitor displaying footage from the outside of the vault. It was still quiet, but she didn’t know how much time they had before being detected. Leaning into the table, she tried to meet Fitz’s eyes. “So? Does anything look weird?”

“Yeah…this…” he circled his finger around a particular area of wiring. “This isn’t right. None of the wires line up correctly. It doesn’t make any sense. Unless…” He stepped back for a moment before turning the device in a half circle.

“What?”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he let out a huff. “Unless she _flipped_ it.”

 

\-----

 

 _The Framework – November 5_ _ th _ _, 2016_

 

“I’ll call you as soon as I can. Okay… _thank you_ …”

Upon seeing Fitz hovering in the lab’s doorway, Jemma flipped the phone shut and threw it into her bottom desk drawer. She wasn’t surprised to see him in the slightest after their heated discussion the day prior. But considering his behavior since the arrival of his father in the lab, she didn’t know what she would say to him. Slowly, she returned her attention to her notebook, sinking deeper into her lab chair in an attempt to ignore him, but she heard his approaching steps and couldn’t help but look up when he reached her desk.

“May I sit?” he asked tentatively.

She nodded, meeting his eyes only briefly.

He pulled up a chair directly next to hers and draped his cardigan along the back before sitting down heavily and leaning forward in an attempt to catch her gaze. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“For what?” she asked, her eyes still focused on her notebook.

“You’re mad at me. I should have been more straightforward with you since the beginning. About LFTech’s involvement in the…”

She looked up, shaking her head. “I’m not angry with you. I’m just…I don’t like what’s happening with the Inhumans, and I feel like we’re not doing enough about it.”

He let out a huff. “But you should be. _Mad_ at me. The truth is…I should have said something sooner. Maybe I could have convinced my father to pull out of the project before he got sucked in. Now it feels too late.”

“I don’t think it’s too late,” she mumbled.

He leaned in closer. “And why is that?”

She bit her lip. She wanted to tell him the true reason, but she couldn’t. Not yet. Taking a slow breath, she settled on her words. “Because I have hope. That through all of this chaos, and hatred, there are enough people in this world that understand the Inhumans are just people like us and not the enemy. And if enough people voice their opinions and fight for their fair treatment, something will eventually change.”

Through a small smile, he reached over to brush her arm affectionately. “You always have hope.” Jemma felt her cheeks flush, but didn’t try to hide away this time. Because there it was, that look he always gave her that told her they were on the same wavelength, that he understood her completely.  

Turning in her chair to face him, she offered up a smile of her own. “Would you...run away?” she asked hesitantly. “If you could? So you could actually try to help these people?”

She saw something shift in his eyes, probably taken aback by her question, and he remained silent as he swallowed hard. Instantly regretting her choice of words, she felt a sudden heaviness in her chest as her heart sank. She couldn’t get upset, not yet, anyway. But if he didn’t even _want_ to run away, how was this even going to work? She thought she knew how he felt from his glances, his _touches_ , and all their time spent together side by side in the lab. But maybe she misjudged his feelings, and it was all just a fantasy living inside her head.

Her racing doubts suddenly became too overwhelming, and feeling fresh tears brimming, she pushed herself out of her chair to avoid his gaze. “Of course, you wouldn’t. You’d be giving up everything you’ve built and your company. It was a stupid question.”

As she continued to ramble, she heard him get up from his own chair and was not surprised to feel him pull on her arm.

“Jemma, it’s not a stupid question.”

Maintaining his hold on her arm, he started moving his thumb back and forth, the rhythm sending waves of comfort through her being as her heart began to calm its frantic beating in her chest. She didn’t turn to face him, but felt him hover over her, his face close to her ear.

“I don’t know what I’d do. But I don’t have that option.” Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him hang his head. “I wish I did,” he whispered weakly.

Finally, she turned her head to look at him, and found his accompanying look telling her his words were completely genuine. But when he saw the wetness streaming down her face, his eyes filled with worry and he brought a hand up to her cheek.

“Hey, hey, what’s this about?”

Pulling his hand away from her face, she used her sleeve to wipe at her cheeks. “Nothing. I just have a lot on my mind, that’s all.”

“I’ve never seen you like this,” he said, shaking his head.

“I’m fine, Fitz.” She tried to move to the other side of the lab, but her blocked her, holding her shoulder and forcing her to meet his gaze.

“But you’re _not_. I can see it on your face. You don’t lie to me. You’re the _only_ person that doesn’t lie to me. So, I don’t understand why you are now.”

She looked down at her feet, unable to find the words to respond.

Fitz let out a deep sigh. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about...whatever’s bothering you. But you need to know that I’ll always be here for you, okay? No matter what.”

His kind words only caused more tears to fall on her cheeks, and she didn’t bother to wipe them away. Letting out a shuddering breath, she shook her head in defeat. “I’m just...I’m just _exhausted_ , Fitz. From…”

“From what?”

“ _Everything_. But you don’t have to worry about me.”

“How can I not? I’ve seen you every day for almost two years, and not once have you shut me out like this.”

“I’m not shutting you out. I just...it’s been a rough week is all.”

A sudden buzzing came from his pocket, and she figured he wasn’t meant to be here, most likely skipping one of his meetings just to check on her.

“You can go if you have to,” she said quietly.

“It can wait. Plus, are you going to be okay? I don’t want to leave you if—”

“I’m just finishing up here.”

Nodding his head, he looked as if he wanted to say something further, but he remained silent and placed his hands in his pockets. As he turned to leave, Jemma suddenly rushed forward and gripped his arm. “Fitz?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you...trust me?”

“Of _course_ , I do. Jemma, I…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he pulled her towards him by the shoulder and wrapped his arms around her small frame. She tensed, not expecting this sort of contact from him, but melted into his chest once she registered the warmth of his touch and how it calmed her instantly. She willed herself not to shed any more tears as she didn’t want to ruin his shirt, but part of her believed he wouldn’t care.

They stood like that for a while as their breaths started to sync, Fitz moving his hand soothingly up and down her back. Feeling the need to pull him closer, Jemma wrapped her arms firmly around his waist. He seemed to notice her need, so he curled one hand around her head and buried his face into her neck, breathing heavily into her hair.

Even though she wished they could stay like this for the rest of the day, clinging to each other in the middle of Hydra’s chaos, she reluctantly pulled away from him, but he kept hold of her at arm's length, his hands folded behind the small of her back.

As she reached a hand up to curl her hair behind her ear, he tilted his head down to meet her eyes. “We’re going to be okay, right?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

_I hope so._

After finally pulling away, he gave her a gentle smile. “I’ll see you later,” he said and turned toward the lab’s door.

“Bye, Fitz,” she whispered after him.

Once he was out of sight, she cradled her head in her hands as she leaned against the back of his chair. But her attention was suddenly drawn to his scent as she looked up to find herself leaning into his cardigan, which he seemed to have just left behind accidentally. It was one of her favorites, the blue one with the front pockets that looked cozy and warm. Pulling it free from the back of the chair, she held it up to her face and closed her eyes, reciting a silent prayer. _The plan will work. It has to._

 

\-----

 

“This…this isn’t mine. She must have modified the central wiring to make it… _of course_. She flipped it. It’s already controlled remotely, but she changed it to have the opposite effect. It would take a controlled substance and turn it into an explosive. No wonder Hydra kept this under lock and key.”

“Okay, so she changed the design. What does that mean?”

“It means…she _wanted_ the explosion to happen. And it worked, but why would she do such a thing?”

“Maybe she wanted to make it look like she died, but she really didn’t,” Daisy replied, hoping he would catch on quickly. “Is there anything else on the device? A sign or anything?”

“I don’t think so. It doesn’t look like… _hold on_.”

Narrowing in on the device, he ran his finger gently over a small panel.

“This…this isn’t supposed to open this way.” Gently flipping the panel open, he narrowed his eyes to inspect the inside. As his eyes suddenly widened, Daisy leaned forward.

“What is it? What does it say?”

“Escape. It says _escape_.”

“That’s it? Just the one word?”

“No…there’s also…” He leaned in closer, and Daisy looked on as his breath suddenly hitched, his hand coming up to cover his mouth.

“Coordinates. Skye, they’re _coordinates_. Ah, she’s _brilliant_ , that one.” As he shook his head through his disbelief, he pulled his phone out and began taking pictures of the inside panel.

Daisy’s face engulfed in a full grin as relief flooded over her at their luck. _Coordinates_. She didn’t need a GPS to know where they would lead. “Fitz, that’s…that’s amazing, right?” But out of the corner of her eye, she watched the monitor as security officers began making their way to the basement, led by none other than her Framework boyfriend. She grabbed Fitz’s shoulder frantically. “Ward’s here. Fitz, we have to move.”

“Right, got everything I need.”

“Just leave the box. We don’t have time to put it back.”

Once they made it out of the vault, they hurried to the staircase and narrowly avoided the security officers before they resumed their posts. But something must have triggered their presence in the vault, as more Hydra operatives suddenly appeared around the corner, blocking the direct route to the North exit.

Daisy pulled Fitz back by his shoulder. “Go that way,” she told him, pointing in the opposite direction of the approaching operatives. “It circles back around to the exit, and I’ll hold them off. Have Davis put in the coordinates. I’m right behind you.”

He paused for a moment, but nodded fiercely before turning to continue down the hallway.

Holding her gun ready, she slowly crept the rest of the way down the hall, almost making it around the corner, but the sudden force of being pulled by her shoulder knocked her off balance, nearly making her tumble at her feet. Ward pulled her forcefully and backed her against the wall, hovering over her with a grisly expression.

“Skye, what is going _on_?”

“It’s nothing. Someone infiltrated the vault, and I was just helping—”

“It was _you_ , though, wasn’t it?” he countered, tightening his grip on her shoulder. “The one that broke in? I know you’ve been distant, so I figured something was going on. But _this?_ What are you hiding?”

“Ward, if you could just let me explain…”

“ _Ward_.” His eyes narrowed, his gaze becoming more menacing. “Why would you…you call me _Grant_ , not—”

But he never got to finish his sentence as he was suddenly hit in the back of the head, the loud thump ringing throughout the hallway. Daisy stood in shock as he fell to the ground unconscious, but was more surprised to see Fitz standing behind him, a fire extinguisher in hand.

Breathing heavily, he shrugged as his lip curled into the slightest smile. “I don’t have great aim, but this seemed to work nicely.”

Daisy matched his satisfied grin. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

He helped her step over Ward’s body, and then she pulled on his sleeve for him to follow her. “Okay, now we really have to move.” After grabbing Ward’s gun from his belt and tossing it to Fitz - just in case – they made their way to the North entrance of the building.

Daisy quickened her pace. “I didn’t see any other guards, so we should be in the—”

“Hey, stop right there—”

“Fitz, get down!”

Shots fired out as Daisy pulled Fitz with her to the wall where they crouched down mere feet away from the entrance. But they couldn’t just rush for the door, as they needed to swipe her ID card to deactivate the lock.

Fitz breathed heavily as he reached for his gun. “I think there’s three of them, from what I could count.”

“What are they packing?

“Assault rifles from the looks of it.”

“That seems a bit excessive.” Daisy glanced up at the entrance to inspect the door. “I need to reach the pin pad. Cover me, okay?”

“Got it. Just hold on. Hold on….okay, now!”

Daisy launched herself toward the door, her ID card already outstretched and aimed at the pin pad. She covered her head with her arm as more shots fired out, but from the corner of her eye, she could see Fitz firing back, looking the part of a much more experienced agent than she expected. As one of Fitz’s shots hit an operative square in the chest, Daisy reached forward and swiped her card, getting a satisfying green light as the door unlocked.

“Fitz, move!”

Firing more shots, he followed her through the open door and covered her until they made it around the corner, crouching down next to a line of bushes. “Where’s Davis?” Daisy asked urgently.

But in the blink of an eye, they heard an engine rev and the town car came barreling around the corner, screeching to a halt directly in front of them.

“Get in!” Davis yelled through his window.

Daisy grabbed onto Fitz’s collar and propelled them forward, keeping their heads low as they heard more commotion coming from the front entrance, additional operatives seemingly in pursuit. After flinging themselves into the back seat and slamming the door shut, Davis hit the gas and charged the vehicle into the street.

Once they were clear of the property and free from any tailing vehicles, Davis glanced over his head. “Everyone okay back there?”

“Yeah, we’re good.” Daisy replied. She looked to Fitz, who was still trying to catch his breath, but once he met her eyes, he started to chuckle.

 

\-----

_Day 3_

 

They rode in silence most of the way, Fitz fidgeting every few moments, unable to get comfortable. Daisy reached over across the seat to place her hand on his shoulder, pulling on the collar of the Hydra jacket. “Here, take this off. You’re driving yourself crazy.”

“But what if I am crazy? What if this is just some silly plot to drive me insane? I don’t want to get my hopes up for them to just be crushed.”

“You’re not crazy. She wanted you to find those coordinates. I’m sure of it.”

After discarding the Hydra jacket on the floor, he leaned back against the headrest and closed his eyes. “I’m just afraid of what we’ll find, or worse, what we _won’t_ find.”

“Well, we’re almost there, so you won’t have to wait much longer to find out,” she replied, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

A few minutes later, Davis slowed the car as they approached the exact coordinates and came to a stop a few meters away from the destination – a small abandoned house on a dirt road. Even at this time of night, or _morning_ as it was, the inside was lit by a few lamps, but Fitz still looked uneasy at the sight.

He shifted in his seat to peer out the window. “Is that it? Are you sure you got the location right?”

“I’m positive, sir.”

Fitz nodded, but didn’t make a move to leave the car.

Daisy reached over to place her hand on his knee. “You should go in first.”

When he turned his head to meet her eyes, Daisy could see the genuine nerves behind his. Giving him an encouraging smile, she gestured toward the car door.  “Go on.”

With a deep breath, he exited the car and walked tentatively up to the front door. He brought his hand up to knock, but noticed the door was already ajar, so he gently pushed his hand against it to peek inside. It was dark besides a small side table lamp, and the house was pretty scarce of furniture, so he stepped forward hesitantly. “Jemma?” he called out softly.

He didn’t receive a response, so he continued his way into the house and noticed the few items inhabiting the space – some file folders on the coffee table, a forgotten cup of tea on the kitchen counter, and a cardigan lying on the sofa.

But it wasn’t just any cardigan. It was _his_ cardigan. The one he left…the one he left that day in the lab, before…

_Oh! Don’t forget your—_

_Ah, thank you. Always looking out for me, Simmons._

He thought he would never see it again. Picking it up, he brought a sleeve up to his nose and sniffed, closing his eyes as he took in the familiar scent. The scent he would always remember from when they shared that last embrace before he left her in the lab that day _._

Looking behind him, he found Daisy standing in the doorway nodding her head, encouraging him to keep going.

Cradling the cardigan between his hands, he continued on to the back room of the house.

 

\-----

 

Jemma sat against the wall with her legs to her chest as she balanced the journal on top of her knees. She used her sleeve to wipe her eyes, more tears falling freely. It was inevitable, coming to the last journal entry and knowing what would happen in the end, but it still made her heart sink, knowing this Jemma put so much thought and effort into this escape plan only for it to end in ruins. Even if it wasn’t real, even if it was all programming, her heart still ached for the future they never got to experience, for the love they never got to share.

She was about to flip through the journal to return to the entry about Henry when the sound of the closet door creaking open made her nearly jump out of her skin. Turning her head slowly, her breath caught in her throat when she saw the source of the noise.

Because there he was.

Letting go of the door handle, he stood in utter disbelief and brought his fingers to his lips as he took her in. She could already see his eyes shining against the lamplight, and her heart began to race.

“Fitz?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! My goal is to have this finished before the show returns, so you won't have to wait much longer to find out what happens next! :)


	5. Chapter 5

“Jemma?”

Dropping the journal on the floor, she scrambled to her feet, but stayed inside the doorframe of the closet, not wanting to startle him.

Fitz looked at her up and down, completely stunned, and lowered his hand to his side. “Is it…is it really you?”

Her heart swelled at the familiar question. “Of course, it is,” she said through a chuckle. “Who else would it be?”

She let him stare at her for a moment, his eyes shifting between her eyes, her hair, all the way down to her feet. He took in a shaky breath, and Jemma’s eyes widened at the overwhelming anticipation of his next move.

For a moment, she thought he didn’t believe her.

But then he launched at her, pulling her desperately into his arms as his emotions finally pushed over the edge. She barely had time to react by the sheer speed of his movements, his arms enveloping her in a fierce embrace, so her own ended up trapped against his chest, but it didn’t matter. It allowed her to clutch at his shirt, to pull him closer to her if it was even possible, and to feel the frantic beating of his heart. Because this sudden feeling of _him_ , even if it wasn’t _really_ him, it was everything she needed and more.

The room seemed to spin, her mind racing as she processed this moment, and as her legs risked giving out, he moved his arms to secure them more firmly around her waist to hold her more comfortably. Wiggling her arms free, she wrapped them around his middle, unable to fight her own overwhelming feelings and allowed herself to openly weep. This only made him tighten his hold around her even more, and she could hear his own gentle sobs as she felt his shuddering breaths against her chest. Reaching his arm up to cradle her head, he began whispering her name over and over, a breathless chant she wished he would never cease.

It was one thing to hold him, to feel his breath against her hair and hear him whisper her name again and again in the voice she’d missed so terribly, but she needed to _see_ him. Searching for his eyes, she pulled back just the slightest to lift her head and found him gazing down out her through tear soaked eyes and flushed cheeks. He shook his head in complete wonder as he began stroking his fingers through her hair, similarly overcome by the sight in front of him and the feel of finally holding her in his arms after four devastating months.

“ _Jemma_ ,” he choked out.

“ _Hi_ ,” she said, nearly breathless.

Her reply only caused his tears to fall faster, so she cupped her hands around his face to pull him closer, bringing their foreheads together.

He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing his eyes only briefly before finding hers again. “I just…I just can’t believe you’re alive. I thought…I thought you were _gone_.” Still holding her closely to his chest, he brought one hand up to wipe her hair out of her face where it clung to her cheeks from her tears.

“No,” she whispered. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

He spent the next few moments just taking her in, and she watched him adoringly, pressing her cheek into his palm as he stroked his thumb back and forth to catch her escaping tears. He still looked a bit uneasy, like she would disappear in the blink of an eye if he weren’t careful, so he never broke contact, moving his hand from her cheek into her hair while his other wrapped around her shoulders, seemingly holding on for dear life. And then something shifted in his eyes, like he couldn’t take it anymore, and he suddenly pulled her in to press their lips together.

Jemma melted into him as she gave in to the pleasure of feeling his lips dancing against hers in a gentle game of give and take, uncovering each other once again. But it was different than their other kisses in the real world, because _this_ Fitz, he was discovering her lips, mapping them out and experiencing their softness against his own for the very first time.

Too quickly, he pulled back to catch his breath and bit his bottom lip through his smile. “Sorry.”

As she massaged the back of his neck, she leaned in closer, smiling fiercely. “ _Why_?”

“I…I’ve always wanted to do that.”

Burying her face into this neck, she let out a soft chuckle. “Well, hopefully it’s apparent I want the same thing.”

She heard him let out a chuckle of his own before urging her to meet his eyes again. And the smile she found on his face suddenly took her back to the bunk on the playground, where a similar scene had taken place. He looked completely and astonishingly happy, and it warmed her heart knowing she could bring him this much joy.

Seemingly unable to resist his need for contact any longer, he dove back in again, smashing his lips to hers as he tangled his hand in her hair. Following his movements, she latched her arms around his neck, increasing their pace and intensity. Clearly overwhelmed and needing to center himself, he backed up and guided them toward the bed, sinking down once the edge hit the back of his knees. Jemma followed in earnest, climbing into his lap without releasing his lips and cradling his face between her hands. She figured Daisy was just outside, but at this point, she didn’t really care, needing to just be with him for these few minutes alone.

After a few moments of bliss, they pulled apart, but only to catch their breath once more. Jemma leaned down to gently press her lips to the corner of his mouth, and then wrapped her arms tightly around his neck in a tender embrace. She relished in the way he pulled her against him, his hands sliding up and down her back as he breathed heavily against her neck.

It was strange – she had to admit – giving in to these sensations of him holding her like this, when it wasn’t really him. He wasn’t her Fitz and he never would be, not really. But he was Framework Jemma’s Fitz, and those two, those two _stubborn_ idiots who didn’t have the courage to embark on this journey together sooner, deserved this. They deserved to feel this way after so much time apart, after losing each other even before they were considered a single entity. They never got to become FitzSimmons in this world, but as she held him, as she felt the way his breath shuddered as he finally gave in to two years worth of buried feelings, she would act as his Jemma. Even if this world wasn’t real, and everything about their relationship developed around the programming of this messed up reality, this was real for _him_. And she would let him believe it for a few more precious moments before she needed to tell him the truth.

Fitz pulled Jemma’s arms from around his neck to take hold of her hands, and began placing gentle kisses on her knuckles. “You weren’t…you weren’t just planning an escape for yourself,” he whispered between pecks. “It was…it was for both of us.”

“Yes. Exactly.”

He rubbed his lips together before letting out a soft chuckle. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted this.”

“I know. Me too.”

“Jemma, you have to understand. I wanted a way out, to escape that life and my father. I just didn’t know _how_. And I can’t believe you did it. It was brilliant. But that’s not surprising. You were always the most brilliant one. But, oh God.” Suddenly closing his eyes, he began shaking his head back and forth. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

She placed her hands on his cheeks, forcing him to look up at her. “Why are you apologizing?”

“You had this all planned out, for us to escape and run away, but I couldn’t live with myself after the explosion. After I left you in that lab…”

“Hey, shhh. I assumed you would investigate the explosion and the device yourself. I didn’t anticipate the lawsuit and Hydra banning you from that lab, or them locking away the device.”

“I still don’t understand how you did it. How did you delete the security footage, alter all the files?”

Jemma swallowed, trying to keep her face as straight as possible. She knew the answer, but it would confuse him too much if she told him. Best to reveal everything to him slowly, she thought to herself. “I had help from a friend,” she settled on. “Don’t worry about that now.”

“I won’t, but it _worked_. You’re here and I’m here, thanks to Skye, and we’re going to be okay.”

Her smile widened as she watched his face light up. “I _know_. I know we will.”

He matched her smile for a moment, but then his face fell. “Oh shit. _Skye_. She’s probably dying to see you right now.”

“Ah, _yes_. I can’t wait to see her too.” But she was unable to resist herself and pulled his lips to hers once more in a slow and gentle kiss. Once they parted, they lingered there for a few moments, Fitz biting his bottom lip through his grin.

“We shouldn’t keep her waiting,” he whispered.

“You’re probably right.”

After untangling themselves off the bed, they walked hand in hand out of the bedroom to find Daisy waiting rather impatiently in the living area, and at the sight of them, she brought her hand up to her mouth. “Jemma?”

“ _Skye._ ” Rushing over, Jemma pulled her friend into a tight embrace, playing the part as best she could. It had been a few days since she had last seen Daisy in person, so she didn’t have to fake the act of missing her, and Daisy seemed to be playing the part as well, taking in frantic breaths as she held Jemma more firmly in her arms.

“I’ve…I’ve missed you so much,” Jemma gasped.

Suddenly, Daisy turned them around so her back was facing Fitz, and she leaned in to whisper in Jemma’s ear. “Is it working?” she asked faintly.

“Yes,” Jemma whispered back. “I’ll tell him soon.”

Over Daisy’s shoulder, Jemma watched Fitz lean against the wall, content as he watched the two friends embrace for what he thought was the first time in months. She met his eyes and smiled at him dearly.

But something seemed to shift in his eye, and she could have sworn she saw the gears shifting in his head, the realization that something didn’t make sense. His eyes began to shift between the two of them, and when he met Jemma’s eyes again, she tried her best to look oblivious, not wanting him to notice her sensing this shift in him.

He titled his head an inch as he narrowed his eyes slightly. “Jemma, you said a friend helped you, right?”

She tried to hide her quick intake of breath. “Yes,” she replied, pulling back from Daisy. “That’s what I said.” Stepping away from their embrace, Jemma watched him with a confused expression, but her mind knew where his was heading.

He stared at her, seemingly judging her response, but then turned to Daisy. “Was it you?”

Daisy swallowed hard. “Fitz.”

Pulling away from the wall, he walked slowly towards them. “No, it makes…sense now. You knew how to hack into the system, what files to check. It _was_ you.” Finally, it all seemed to click in his head and he pointed forcefully in Daisy’s direction. “So, you knew? This _whole_ time? And you didn’t say anything?”

Daisy put her hand to her forehead. “Fitz, we knew you wouldn’t believe us if we told you too soon,” she pleaded. “You had to figure it out yourself.”

“What do you mean I wouldn’t _believe_ you?” he nearly shouted, his voice echoing throughout the small house. “I see her standing there. Obviously, she’s still alive. Of course I would have _believed_ you.” Turning around himself, he covered his forehead with his hand.

Daisy stepped forward. “But…that’s the _thing_. This isn’t what we’re trying to reveal to you. This is just part of it. It’s a lot bigger than that.”

He stopped his spinning as his face contorted in bewilderment. “What are…” He brought his hand to his mouth as he tried to process Daisy’s words. “What are you talking about? Jemma?”

She could see him spiraling, the confusion weighing down on him as if his world were turning to madness before his eyes. Hearing his breathing becoming ragged, she rushed forward and pulled on his arm, urging him toward the sofa. “Come here.”

Following her, he sunk down heavily into the cushion as he leaned his elbows on his knees, dropping his head into his hands. Jemma kneeled in front of him and forced his hands away, gripping them fiercely in her own.

“Hey, look at me. _Look_ at me.” When he finally listened and met her eyes, she placed both of her hands securely along his jawline. “I need to tell you something, and you have to promise me you’ll listen to me, okay? It’s not going to make sense, but you have to believe me.”

He let out another shuddering breath before nodding weakly.

Jemma leaned in closer to hold his full attention and brushed her thumb against his cheek before continuing. “This isn’t real. I know it feels like it, but it’s not.”

Suddenly, his lips began to tremble. “No, you…you just told me that you’re _real_ , that you’re _alive_. But you’re not, are you? This is all in my head, isn’t it? I am going mad.” He closed his eyes again and attempted to hang his head.

“No, no, no. That’s not what I mean. Hey, listen to me,” she insisted. “I’m real, and I’m alive, but _this_ , all of this,” she gestured to the space around her, “ _isn’t_. This entire world, it’s made up. It’s manufactured, _programmed_ for some sick attempt to try to make the world less painful.”

Opening his eyes, his expression changed slightly from anguish to genuine confusion. “Programmed?”

“Yes, but it didn’t work, Fitz. Because I know you experienced so much pain in this world already, and it’s not getting any better. But let me tell you something. There’s a _real_ world out there. And in that world, it’s you and me, side by side, the _whole_ time. At sixteen, we met, not at the Hydra academy, but the _SHIELD_ academy, and we worked together, and we joined a _team_ , and we went on so many journeys together.”

She paused to catch her breath, her words tumbling out quickly as fresh tears collected in her eyes, mirroring his own. Moving one hand to the back of his neck, she leaned her forehead against his in anticipation for her next words. “And we fell in love with each other,” she whispered. “Slowly, but we did. You told me you loved me at the bottom of the ocean. In the real world, you’re still the kindest, most caring and loving person I’ve ever met.”

At this, he wrapped his hand around the small of her back, and Jemma felt a shiver run up her spine, her tears falling freely now. Rubbing his hands up her back, he leaned in closer, urging her to continue.

“And there’s pain. There’s always going to be pain, but we get through it together. We always do. But we’re running out of time before our real bodies give out, so please, come with us. I promise it will be different, but it will be worth it. You’ll see.”

He rubbed his lips together and took in a deep breath, clearly attempting to process her words as best he could, but when he met her eyes once again, she saw a sliver of hope behind them. “We’ll be together?” he asked.

Jemma nodded eagerly. “The _whole_ time. I promise.”

“How do we…how do we get there?” he asked, looking over Jemma’s shoulder. Jemma turned her head around to find Daisy approaching.

“There’s a backdoor to the real world. It’s not that far from here. Davis can drive us.”

Jemma turned back to look at Fitz. “So?”

He stayed silent for a moment, but then nodded his head. “Okay.”

“Okay? You believe me?”

“When you asked me that day in the lab, I meant what I said. I trust you. So, yeah. I believe you.”

Smiling through fresh tears, Jemma leaned her forehead against his as she let out a sigh of relief. “ _Good_.”

 

\-----

 

And so they traveled to the backdoor together, Fitz and Jemma curled into each other in the back of his town car, unable to break contact, with Daisy at their right leaning against the car window, clearly exhausted from the last few days. For once, the Framework finally felt peaceful, like it was meant to be in the first place, just the three of them resting silently as Davis drove them into the early morning, the gentle hum of the engine calming them before they left for the real world.

But a hint of dread still stirred in Jemma’s stomach. There was still a chance the real Fitz wouldn’t escape from AIDA. They hadn’t been pulled out manually, so she knew Coulson and the team hadn’t found his body yet, but she forced herself to not focus on that. Because this Fitz _believed_ her. Even though he spent four months trying to move on from the worst guilt in his life, he found her again, and he _believed_ her. Of course, he didn’t completely understand what was going on – that was expected – but he believed in their story that in this world, and in _any_ world, they were meant to be together.

Fitz tightened his hold around Jemma’s waist as she sunk deeper into his chest, her hand tracing gentle circles around his heart. It no longer raced frantically, and he breathed evenly now, obviously finding comfort in just being with her even if he didn’t know where they were heading. Reaching down to rest his chin on top of her head, he let out a slow breath before breaking their peaceful silence. “Jemma?”

Craning her neck to look up at him, she found his eyes and gave him a soft smile. “Hmm?”

“I love you.”

Her eyes crinkled as her smile widened. “What?”

He shrugged slightly against her. “I don’t know where we’re going, and if this is really happening, honestly. But I wanted you to know. Just in case I never get the chance.”

She pulled her lips in, overcome by his words, and lifted herself up to place a gentle peck on his cheek. “I love you, too,” she whispered softly. “But don’t worry. You’ll get your chance.” She allowed her lips to linger a moment longer against his cheek before resting back down between his neck and shoulder. Slowly, he turned his head to press his lips to her crown before resting his head against hers.

Gradually, Jemma felt a wave of heaviness wash over her as they continued their drive. She didn’t think she would feel any side effects inside the Framework from what her real body was experiencing, so maybe her mind was playing games with her, or the fact that she knew what her body must be experiencing right now caused her to feel the effects herself. Either way, she couldn’t stop herself from sinking down further into Fitz’s chest and allowing her eyes to slip closed.

_They’ll find his body in time. They have to._

She wasn’t sure if she ever drifted off, but in what felt like a few short moments, she noticed the car slow and come to gentle stop. Brushing a few stray hairs behind her ear that had fallen in front of her face, he leaned down to press a soft kiss to her forehead before whispering in her ear. “I think we’re here.”

After a short but sweet goodbye to Davis, reassuring him they would see him on the other side, the three of them walked arm and arm down the sidewalk along the side of the cemetery. It was close to sunrise now, and for the first time, Jemma felt for a moment that this world could be beautiful if she looked hard enough. It had this Fitz, after all. But her feelings changed once her eyes found the lamppost she had chosen as the backdoor, knowing who was waiting for her on the other side. She pulled on Fitz’s arm and nodded forward. “That’s it.”

“The lamppost? What do we do? Is it like a…portal?”

Jemma huffed as she glanced sideways at Daisy. “Well, not a traditional kind of portal, but essentially, yes. We just have to touch it, and it should take us back.”

They moved into position, each on one side of the lamppost in order to clutch it in unison. Before they stretched their arms forward, Daisy nudged Jemma in her side. “Are you guys ready?”

Glancing at Fitz, he gave her a firm nod. Turning back to Daisy, she nodded as well. “Yes, we’re ready.”

“Alright, on the count of three, okay? One…two…three!”

Together, they reached their hands forward, grasping onto the post.

And in an instant, the world went dark.

 

\-----

 

The darkness transformed into a blur of images, a mixture of muffled sound and bright lights, and Jemma felt her mind spin as she tried to focus on one thing at a time. The first thing she noticed was a burning sensation coming from her right calf, as well as a slight ache that seemed to permeate throughout the rest of her body. Slowly, she began to pinpoint the different sounds surrounding her, the faint chatter of agents a few meters away, the steady beat of a heart monitor to her left. Cracking her eyes open, she was met with the subtle glare of light, but she was able to focus her eyes past it to see a screen lit up against the wall in front of her. Squinting her eyes, she made out what looked to be a location pinpointed on a map from specific coordinates.

Her heart raced as it filled with hope, praying the map meant what she thought it did. Closing her eyes again through their heaviness, she tried to pull her arm up, but an IV attached to her hand prevented her movement. “Fitz?” she managed through a shaky breath.

Someone suddenly rushed to her side. “Jemma? Hey, you’re going to be okay.” She slowly registered the person as Elena and reached out, searching for contact. She felt a gentle hand squeeze her arm as another pulled the headset from her forehead.

“Try to breath, okay?” Elena placed an oxygen mask over Jemma’s face, holding it steadily while bringing a damp cloth to her forehead.

Jemma shook her head and tried to remove the oxygen mask from her face. “Fitz, where is he? Is he okay?”

“Jemma, slow down. Your body’s still recovering.”

“I have t-to find him. Please.” She tried to lift herself up, but Elena pushed her shoulder down.

“Jemma, it’s fine. Coulson and the team are on it. Just relax.”

“Wait… _Daisy_. Is she…” She turned her head to find her friend stirring, and leaned over to grab her hand. Daisy squeezed back weakly.

“Jemma…” Daisy mumbled. “I’m alright. I promise. _Go_. Go find him.”

Daisy’s encouragement was all she needed as Jemma summoned up all her energy and pushed herself off the recliner, ripping her arm free from the IV and stumbling toward the exit of the medical wing. She could hear the faint sounds of protests from Elena and the other agents in the room, but she didn’t care. She found him in the Framework, so she would damn well find him in the real world.

It didn’t take long for her to realize how weak she was on her feet, feeling the heavy effects from her time in the Framework weighing down on her limbs as she slowly made her way to the loading zone of the shuttle. It made her heart sink thinking about how long Fitz was plugged in, and how much he must be hurting as well. Passing a few more agents, one she vaguely registered as Davis, she waved them off and kept moving forward, a single word flashing over and over again through her mind, propelling her to keep going. _Fitz. Fitz. Fitz_.

But she didn’t have time to worry, as once she finally managed to reach the loading zone of the Zephyr, stumbling forward and nearly losing her footing, she saw him.

His head dangled forward onto his chest as Coulson and Mack carried him up the ramp with his arms draped over their shoulders. Jemma felt her stomach clench at the sight of him – the thick sweat dripping off his forehead, the heaviness of his limbs, but what distressed her most was the blood. So much blood. So much that it soaked through his shirt, showing even through the dark fabric, with splotches creeping out along his neck and his hands. The sight made her want to sob and hurl at the same time.

But looking from Fitz to Coulson, she was surprised to find the man not sharing her same level of distress.

Instead, he was _smiling_.

“He’s okay.”

She shook her head through her disbelief as a sob finally retched out of her throat. “ _Fitz_ ,” she gasped, launching herself forward – as best she could in her condition – and met him halfway up the ramp to cling at his shoulders. When he didn’t look up, another sob escaped her mouth, but she forced herself to hold it together. Placing her hands on the sides of his face, she lifted his head gently to find his eyes closed. “Fitz?”

“ _Jemma_ ,” he murmured softly.

“What is…are you bleeding?”

Finally, he opened his eyes to give her a half-smile. “ _No_ …it’s AIDA’s blood. It’s over.”

“What…how?”

Mack angled his head toward Fitz. “This guy took her out on his own. It’s the only way we were able to make it out of there.”

Jemma let out a loud sigh. “Oh, thank God.”

Urging Coulson to transfer Fitz’s arm to her own shoulder, she clung to his side as best she could. But suddenly, his knees began to give out, so she guided him with her to the ground, feeling the same effects herself and no longer having the energy to stand. Even as he seemed to barely hold onto consciousness, he still managed to hold onto her desperately, pulling at her waist to bring her closer. She felt him shudder and cradled his head against her chest, not caring how the artificial blood started to stain her shirt. It didn’t matter. He was here. He was safe. And it was _over_.

“I love you,” he choked into her shirt.

Letting out a cross between a chuckle and a sob, she swept over his cheek with her thumb. “I knew you would get your chance.”

“What?”

“Nothing. I love you, too.”

“I’m so sorry, Jemma. It’s all my fault.”

“No, it’s okay,” she replied, her tears blurring her vision. “Everything’s okay now,” she whispered, pressing her lips to the top of his head.

“You did this, didn’t you? You got me out. You went into the framework, right?”

“Yes, Daisy and I, we…we got you out.”

He angled his head up just enough to see her eyes. “You’re magnificent.”

Her head felt hazy as she continued to cling to him. She wanted to stay awake as long as possible, savoring this feeling of him, the _real_ him holding onto her, just the two of them in the middle of all this chaos. But the exhaustion from the Framework was taking a toll on the both of them, and as she rested her forehead against the top of his head, rocking them both gently, she felt her mind slowly slip into a gentle dreamless darkness.

 

\-----

 

She woke to warmth. Not the humid, sick feeling she felt when she woke in that abandoned house in the Framework, but a comforting warmth of protective arms wrapped around her middle, a hand clutching hers into her chest, and the familiar feeling of someone’s steady breathing tickling the back of her neck. In that moment, they were one, curled into each other without any indication where one ended and the other began, and she was home.

Careful not to disturb his apparent peaceful slumber, or the IVs attached to both of their hands, she cracked her eyes open just a sliver to see where they were currently residing. They were in one of the recovery pods on the Zephyr, probably one of the models built for one, but their team knew better than to separate them at a time like this. Jemma shifted her eyes to the nightstand beside the bed and noticed a short note propped up against the lamp.

_Everyone is safe (including Daisy). Just get some rest._

_– COULSON_

She smiled and sighed in relief, the note answering the first question on her mind. When she got the chance, her first visit would be to Daisy’s quarters, but she didn’t know how she would manage to express the level of gratitude she felt towards her friend. A simple thanks and a hug would be a good start.

Suddenly, she felt movement behind her of Fitz stirring, so she clutched at the hand cradled to her chest and brought it to her lips. “Fitz?” she asked, craning her neck to look as far as she could over her shoulder.

“ _Jemma_ ,” he replied through a slight groan.

Rolling onto her back, she stretched her limbs for a moment, relieving her sore muscles before turning onto her side to curl into his chest.

He moved his hand to her waist, pulling his IV as far as he could manage, and brought her closer into him to place his lips to her forehead. “Sorry if you were uncomfortable,” he murmured against her skin. “They said you were going to be fine, but I was worried you might have nightmares, and I couldn’t stay away.”

“Hey, no. It’s okay. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Pulling on the collar of his t-shirt, she breathed in his scent and snuggled in closer.

“How are you feeling?” he asked softly.

She tilted her head slightly. “I’m a little sore…and my head hurts a bit, but I’ll be fine. I just need sleep. What about you?”

“I’m okay, thanks to _you_ ,” he replied, smiling warmly.

“And Daisy.”

“And Daisy,” he agreed.

“You should really be thanking her. She did most of the work. Even her _Framework_ self did everything she could to help our Framework selves find each other.”

“She’s the biggest supporter of our relationship in any world, apparently.”

She smiled into his shirt. “Yeah, she is.”

He shifted back a bit and moved to cup her cheek, but he stopped to hover his hand over her neck, taking in a quick breath. “He did this to you, the android me.”

She nearly forgot it even happened – the showdown with his LMD that ended in him nearly choking her before she could finish him off. Thinking of it now, she shuddered at the memory, but having him here, feeling his skin and the bones beneath, it helped her forget little by little. And she didn’t want him to dwell on it either.

“ _Fitz_.”

“He did though, right?” He didn’t wait for a response before pulling her close to whisper a sea of apologies into her hair.

“Fitz, stop.”

“ _No_ , I did this to us. It’s my fault. He…it _hurt_ you and you had to kill it and there was nothing I could do to stop it. And there’s nothing I _can_ do to take these memories from you—”

“ _Fitz._ ” She let him catch his breath, urging him to match her steady breathing before she continued. “We have to move on. It’s the only thing we can do. The memories, they’ll…they’ll fade eventually. But it’s over now because we did it. We _beat_ it.”

“No, _you_ beat it. If it weren’t for you getting me out of there, I…I don’t know what would have happened.”

“What did happen? After?”

He let out a slow breath. “I woke up, almost instantly, I’d say, but I knew I wasn’t safe. So I waited, pretended I was still under until AIDA left the room. Then I found a metal rod and hid in a corner until she returned. I stabbed her in the chest when she came back in, took her by surprise. Hence the blood.”

“ _Really_?”

“Don’t get too impressed. It was pure luck, really. And after that I didn’t have a plan. Thankfully, Coulson and the team arrived a few minutes later. Good thing too, because I probably wouldn’t have made it out of there on my own. Used all of my energy to take out AIDA, so I was nearly dead weight at that point.”

“Mack said you’re the reason they got out of there.”

He shrugged slightly. “She had a bunch of androids guarding the submarine. Once I took her out, I guess they lost their power, or didn’t know what to do. They lost their purpose, I suppose.”

“What about the Framework?”

“Mack took care of it. Made sure it was blown to bits before we made it out of there.”

Jemma nodded, and then reached between them to take his hand, cradling it between her own. “Do you remember anything about the Framework?”

He shook his head as he curled his lip to the side. “Just bits and pieces. It’s more of a blur, really. What do you remember?”

“We weren’t together. _Physically_ , but…we found our way back to each other. It’s how we got out of there. I guess your LMD was right about one thing, even if he was cold and manipulative.” She reached up to run her hand along his cheek. “You and I, we’re meant to be together. In every world, in every reality. At last the Framework got that part right. _Eventually_.”

“Was I different? In the Framework?”

“Not much. Your hair was… _odd_. I’ll say that. But you were still you. Deep down, you were still kind, still loving. It just took some digging. Oh! I wonder…” She slipped her hand into her pocket, but was quickly disappointed to find it empty. “Never mind. That would have been impossible.”

“What?”

“Well, Framework Fitz he…he gave the Framework version of myself this little origami thing shaped like a monkey for her birthday. I found it in the house where she was staying. It was incredibly cute, so I kept it in my pocket, but I obviously couldn’t bring it back, the world not being real and all that.”

He let out a soft chuckle. “At least I was still romantic in the Framework.”

After swatting him lightly against his chest, she curled in closer. “It wasn’t a _romantic_ gift, because we weren’t together at that point. But I’ll tell you about them someday. I’ll tell you their story.”

He hummed against her hair. “I look forward to it.”

“It’s not much different, really. Two stubborn idiots who didn’t see what was right in front of them. I mean, you were engaged, so that was a complication.”

Pulling back, he searched for her eyes. “En _gaged_? To whom?”

“ _I_ don’t know, some daughter of a wealthy donor to your company. Your father set it up, I believe.” Jemma watched as Fitz’s face suddenly fell as he looked over her shoulder to avoid her eyes. “Fitz?”

“It was my father, wasn’t it? The regret she replaced?”

She paused for a moment, choosing her words carefully. “Turns out you taking him up on his offer to pursue a business rather than just an engineering focus had…well, _disastrous_ results on the rest of the world. He was probably the main reason why Hydra rose to power.”

He didn’t respond. Instead, he closed his eyes and brought his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

Jemma pulled his hand down, urging him to meet her eyes. “Do you regret it still? Not searching for him?”

“I don’t know. It’s terrifying to think a relationship with him would lead to such a catastrophe. But I think a part of me will always wonder what would have happened if I had convinced him to stay. I can’t help it.”

“How much do you think about it?”

“More than I care to admit.”

She didn’t like the look on his face, the sudden anguish behind his eyes, so she sat up against the headboard and pulled him up with her, taking hold of his hands and shifting on the bed to face him. “Hey, listen at me. Do you know what I noticed about the Framework Fitz?”

“What?”

She took a deep breath before focusing intently on his eyes and continuing. “Even though he had a relationship with his father, and a rotten one at that, he still had regrets in his life - about his involvement with the Inhumans, his company, and his relationship with the Framework version of myself. And it consumed him like you would not believe. It _changed_ him, made him shut down.” She paused to let out a short breath. “I know you’re not him, but I don’t want to see that happen to you. I know you have regrets – not taking a chance on our relationship sooner, working with Radcliffe. Hell, at this point, you probably regret joining SHIELD after all the friends you’ve lost and the number of times you’ve been betrayed. But you can’t let it consume you. You can’t change the past – it’s not programming; it’s real life – so it’s messy and painful, but you know what you _can_ change?”

He didn’t respond, but waited for her to continue with patient eyes.

“The choices you make, and the chances you take. You’ve taken risks – joining Coulson’s team…going to _Morocco_ at the slim chance it would help you decipher the monolith… _kissing_ me for the first time in the lab. But the risks, they paid off in the end. Because we’re here together, and we’re okay.”

Nodding his head, he looked down at their hands, squeezing hers gently.

“You can’t let the fear of something tragic or catastrophic happening keep you from taking chances. The Framework Fitz didn’t take the chance to tell the Framework version of myself how he felt, and it blew up in his face. Almost literally. So you have to keep taking those risks – in science, in your career…” She paused for a moment before continuing. “…in our relationship. I’m not saying risk your life everyday. But don’t hold back because you’re scared of what could happen. That’s not living.”

Needing to meet his eyes, she pulled one hand free and placed it along his jawline. “And you’re not going to be alone. I’ll be there the entire time, and we’ll take chances together. It’s what we’ve always done. And nothing’s going to change that.”

Leaning into her palm, he gave her a soft smile. “You’re right. As always. And we’ll take care of each other no matter what.”

“Of course, we will,” she replied, her eyes beaming.

Before long, they resumed their former position of Fitz wrapping his arms securely around Jemma’s frame, her head sinking into his chest to feel his heartbeat while they slipped back into their dreamless slumber. They didn’t know what would happen once the Zephyr landed and they would be forced to reenter reality. But they didn’t trouble themselves with anxious thoughts. Because the steady rise and fall of their breaths, now synced as they slept away the memories of the Framework, would help them reach tomorrow. As long as they had each other, along with the knowledge the other was flesh and bone and _alive_ , that was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnnnd that's the last main chapter! I hope you've enjoyed coming on this journey with me. I've had such a wonderful time writing this story, and it's so lovely to see so many of you loving it as well. 
> 
> But don't worry! There will be an epilogue (which will be posted tomorrow!), so their story isn't over just yet. ;-)


	6. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The epilogue is much shorter than the regular chapters, but I didn't want to drag it out too long. Thanks for sticking with me on this, and I hope everyone enjoys the new episode tonight!

_2 months later_

 

Jemma placed her mug down gently onto the breakfast table and tugged her cardigan more securely around her frame. It was Fitz’s cardigan, technically, but he would probably never see it again. He didn’t seem to mind.

She hated to admit it, but she didn’t mind being on lockdown, even if they couldn’t leave their apartment for anything other than grocery runs or doctor’s appointments. Because they got their breakfast nook. And a _window_. It wasn’t a bay window, but she didn’t care. Even if they didn’t exactly _choose_ their living quarters, it was still comforting to be able to watch the sunrise from their own little home.

It was Talbot’s idea to instigate the lockdown on the team, placing them in a high security apartment facility outside of the city. With the Inhuman plot still underway, there were few people he could trust other than the team of agents, but after everything they’d been through with the LMDs and the Framework, he felt it only right to force them to take a break from the action until they could rebuild their base, and their organization for that matter. The team took to it as best they could, but Jemma and Fitz were the most relieved, finally having an excuse to relax for once and take more time for themselves.

The sound of a key turning in the lock of their front door brought Jemma back from her daydreaming, and she turned her head to find Fitz stumbling inside with a rather large amount of grocery bags hanging from his arms.

Jemma gawked. “What did you _buy_?”

Letting out a huff, he managed to get all the bags inside before kicking the door shut with his foot. “A bit of everything. I said I’m cooking, but we’ll see how well that goes.”

Walking over to meet him halfway, she pulled the bags from one of his arms and moved toward their small kitchen. “It’s just going to be the two of us and Daisy.” She placed a particularly heavy bag down on the counter pulled out its contents. “Champagne? We’re hardly celebrating. It’s not like they’re going to give us the all clear any time soon.”

“I know, but I felt like going all out. You know, just because.”

“Alright then. Did you have a nice conversation with Coulson?”

“Yeah, we went over the plans,” he replied, pulling a variety of vegetables out from a bag and placing them on the counter. “It’s really coming along nicely, I think. The different models and sizes, that kind of thing. But we’ll want you to take a look at them before we finalize anything, of course.”

“Of course.” She stopped rummaging through the bags to move to his side, resting her chin on his shoulder and pulling him into a side hug. “But I’m proud of you, you know? I know you were nervous about touching anything… _android_ related, even if it’s just artificial limps. But it’s admirable. Just _think_ of how many people you’re going to help.”

He nodded and placed his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer. “Yeah, I think it’s what I needed – creating something to improve someone’s quality of life rather than for the sake of revolutionary technology. And thank you. For encouraging me to do it. Because I was hesitant at first, but Coulson was right. He shouldn’t be the only amputee in the world with a magic hand.”

“It’s not _magic_.”

“Yes, but the _kids_ don’t know that. Although I’ll probably leave out the shield from the child model, as that probably wouldn’t be the best idea.”

“Aw, you don’t want the world filled with little Captain Americas? With their own personal shields hidden rather literally up their sleeves?”

“That would be cute, wouldn’t it? I might have to rethink that.”

Once they finished unpacking the rest of the bags, she followed him to their window and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his chest while they looked out at their view. It wasn’t the most pleasant sight, the high security gates and guards surrounding the building, but it was better than nothing. They were safe, so that was comforting. And whenever Jemma looked out the window, she also got to look down and see Henry sitting on the sill. Well, it sort of looked like Henry. After many frustrating attempts, Fitz finally managed to recreate the little monkey, even if it was a little wonky on one side. She didn’t mind.

Jemma moved her hand up and down his back as she let out a heavy sigh. “Is it sad that I don’t actually mind this place? I sort of like our little apartment away from it all.”

Fitz nodded, and then rested his chin against the top of her head. “No, it makes sense. It’s nice…and quiet.”

“And we can actually see out _side_. Although, I still miss our bunk, or whatever is left of it. I’m happy they were able to recover what they did.”

“Yeah, we were lucky that way. Speaking of which, _look_ what else they were able to recover.” He pulled back from their embrace to reach into his pocket and pulled out a small black cube, tossing it lightly in the air as Jemma’s eyes instantly lit up.

“Our decoy! I can’t believe you kept it after all this time.” She caught the cube in mid air after another toss and cradled it between her fingers.

“Well, it meant a lot to me. We were friends again, working together. I honestly forgot I still had it.”

She smiled warmly. “Ah, yeah. I’m glad you kept it, then.”

Leaning back against their breakfast table, he crossed his arms over his chest and nodded toward the box. “Open it.”

Through a soft chuckle, she looked up from the cube and tilted her head. “What?”

“Open the box.”

Jemma’s face contorted through her confusion. “You’re just being funny.” When he didn’t respond, she scoffed. “Fitz, it’s the _decoy_. It’s just hollow. There’s nothing _to_ open.”

 _“Jemma_. Open it.”

Hesitantly, she held the box between her fingers and looked at each side, wondering where he meant her to open it. It didn’t feel any different from when she first held it in the Playground so long ago, and she spent so much time pretending it was the real toolbox that she spend a fair share of time examining the object. But Fitz was giving her the strangest look, so he must have altered it in some way.

Beginning with the most logical method, she hovered her fingers over the top panel and looked up with questioning eyes. He gave her an encouraging nod, so she gripped the sides of the box and peeled off the top panel.

“ _Oh_.”

She didn’t know what she would find inside, maybe a note or better looking origami monkey if he was truly being funny, but nothing prepared her for the actual contents of the box. Inside was a small cushion taking up nearly the entirety of the cube, but what was nested inside of the cushion was what made her eyes begin to well up. The ring was delicate, a single oval shaped diamond attached to a thin band with small indentions curving around the sides. She’d never pictured a ring in her head, not wanting to jinx her future in any way, but seeing it in front of her now, the one he chose specifically for her, she couldn’t help but find it the most magnificent thing she’d ever seen.

She suddenly felt Fitz hovering near her and looked up to meet his eyes, her breath already quickening with anticipation.

He brought his hands up to rub them up and down her arms. “You told me I shouldn’t be afraid of taking chances. So this is me taking a chance. I know we haven’t really discussed it…ever since you-know-what sort of beat me to the punch. But I’m tired of waiting, of trying to find the right time, or wondering what your answer will be.”

Taking in a slow breath, she nodded slightly as her lip trembled, urging him to continue. He moved to cradle her hands in his, the box still nested between them.

“I don’t have a speech or anything planned, but let me just say this – I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Jemma. It’s that simple. I love you, and you’re the most important person in my life. I don’t know where we’ll be in the next year, or the next _week_ , at this point, but I see our future, regardless. And I want to make it official. So…”

Keeping hold of one of her hands, he carefully picked up the box from her palm and lowered himself onto his knee. Feeling her heart flutter, she swallowed hard, but focused intently on his eyes, not wanting to miss anything of this moment.

Smiling widely, he positioned the box in front of her and took in a steadying breath. “Jemma Anne Simmons, will you marry me?”

Instead of answering, she immediately reached forward to pull him up by his collar and urgently pressed their lips together. It was a slow and gentle kiss, and Jemma felt the box pressed against her back as he clutched it in his hand while pulling her closer into his chest. She brought her hands up to cradle his cheeks, willing the kiss to last as long as possible. But she knew he wouldn’t be satisfied without a proper answer, so she gently pulled back, keeping her forehead rested against his.

His lips curled into a soft smile. “Is that a yes?”

“Yes. Of _course_ , I’ll marry you.”

They stayed in their embrace for a little while longer, swaying slightly on their feet before he pulled his arm from behind her back to hold the box between them. “Do you want to…”

“Oh! Yes, yes.”

After carefully removing the ring from the cushion, he cradled her left hand and slowly slipped the ring into place. He then tilted her hand slightly back and forth to see the ring from every angle.

“Oh, Fitz. It’s lovely.”

“You like it? I didn’t really know what to get, I mean, I thought it looked nice, but if you want something else, like a different setting or whatever, we could go to the—”

“ _Fitz.”_

He bit his lip to control his rambling.

“I love it,” she reassured him.

“Really?”

“Yes. It’s _beautiful_.” She couldn’t help bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet through her excitement. “So, when?”

“Sorry?”

“When do you want to get married?”

He brought his hand up to scratch at the back of his head. “Ah, well. I…uhhh…didn’t really think that far ahead. Or _where_ you even want to do it. I mean, we could go back home, or have it here, or—”

“We’ll figure it out. But I would prefer _sooner_ rather than later.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Suddenly, she bit her lip before bursting into laughter and pulled him into another hug.

“What’s so funny?” he asked into her shoulder.

“You knew I would say yes. You bought the _champagne_.”

“Ah, yeah. _That_ would’ve been an awkward dinner had you said no.”

She pulled back to find his eyes. “What do you think will happen when Daisy finds out?”

“A _riot_.”

He wasn’t wrong. The minute Daisy walked into their apartment, wine and dessert in hand, she immediately noticed something different about Jemma that she couldn’t put her finger on. But one glance at her friend’s hand had her squealing into hysterics, pulling Jemma into a hug so tight that they nearly lost their footing. Eventually, they parted, but Daisy wasted no time in pulling Fitz into a similar embrace before demanding they open the bottle of champagne immediately.

After pouring their glasses, they toasted to a joy-filled engagement, a beautiful wedding, and long and peaceful marriage. But more importantly, they toasted to a future filled with excitement, discovery, and above all, less regret. Even if they didn’t know where they would end up once everything was resolved, with SHIELD or their team, they knew they wouldn’t let anyone, or any _thing_ , control their narrative. Because their story was just beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who made her deadline! :) I'm really sad to see this come to an end, as this is the longest fic I've ever written, but it was such a joy to write, and I'm happy so many of you enjoyed reading it. 
> 
> If you have any questions about the story, or want any extra details, hit me up on tumblr! I would love to discuss anything and everything bc I just loved writing this story so much. 
> 
>  
> 
> <3

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on tumblr at [whatlighttasteslike](http://whatlighttasteslike.tumblr.com)! I would love to discuss anything fic related, so feel free to message/ask me anytime! <3


End file.
